a place for what couldn’t be carried anymore

[betweenphasesblog]

I learned early how to be strong.

Not admired strong—necessary strong.

This space exists for what had to be carried quietly.

This isn’t performance.

It’s release.

[betweenphasesblog]

the real exhaustion

wasn’t from what happened.

it was from minimizing it.

from being told i was strong

instead of being asked if i was okay.

from carrying things well

and therefore being handed more.

strength is admirable.

but sometimes it’s just unacknowledged pressure.

[betweenphasesblog]

i don’t talk about what shaped me

because most of it doesn’t sound dramatic when explained.

it just looked like being reliable.

being calm.

being “mature.”

it looked like handling things quietly

so no one else had to.

survival isn’t always loud.

sometimes it’s just competence at the wrong age.

[betweenphasesblog]

I don’t miss who I was.

I miss how I felt.

[betweenphasesblog]

I became strong

because I didn’t have the option not to be.

[betweenphasesblog]

Some grief doesn’t cry.

It functions.

[betweenphasesblog]

Numb wasn’t the end.

It was the pause between surviving and choosing.

[betweenphasesblog]

She didn’t disappear.

She learned who didn’t deserve access.