The Light in Letting Go

The water is running loud enough to hide the sound, but not the shaking in your hands. You pour the bottle out while the steam rises, watching the years of hiding swirl down the drain.

It feels like destruction. It feels like the end of something you relied on to survive the night.

But listen — the light is not in the bottle you just emptied. It is in the courage it took to open the cap and let it go.

Thomas said if you bring forth what is within you, it will save you; if you do not, it will destroy you. You are bringing it forth right now.

The shame you tried to wash away with alcohol was never the truth about you. The truth is that you are standing here, sober, in the early light, doing the hardest thing a human can do.

The light does not need you to be perfect. It only needs you to be present.

You made it to morning.