when you realize how much of your self-criticism isn’t really yours, it becomes harder to take it as truth.

being human was never the problem. the problem was believing that i had to erase the messiness to be worthy of love, when in reality, the messiness is what makes the love real.

you cannot bully yourself into self-love. you cannot shame yourself into acceptance.

so i stayed. i sat with the discomfort. i let myself feel the things i’d been numbing with busyness and discipline. and slowly, in ways i can’t map on a timeline, i began to see myself differently. i started noticing how harsh my inner voice had become — the one that measured everything in terms of enoughness. and instead of obeying it, i began to... See more