She used to wear effort
like a badge and a bruise —
convincing herself that the exhaustion
meant she was doing it right.
She knew how to be impressive.
How to shape her light
into something that wouldn’t blind.
How to speak in ways
that made others comfortable
but left her aching.
But there came a moment —
not loud, but final —
when the mask no longer fit.
When the yes stuck in her throat.
When the silence started screaming.
She stopped performing her wholeness.
Stopped curating her fire.
Stopped shrinking her truth
to fit the frame of someone else’s comfort.
This wasn’t collapse.
It was choosing breath over bravado.
Peace over pretending.
Essence over performance.
She didn’t rise louder —
She rose real.
And that became her expression.
Author’s Note
This is the moment many of us secretly fear — and deeply crave.
Not the loud breakthrough.
Not the public pivot.
But the quiet decision to stop performing, and trust what stays.
The Truth That Stayed is for that exact moment:
Where the mask fell — and the real rise began.
Not because you were trying to be bold,
but because you were finally ready to be honest.
It’s about the self that doesn’t disappear when the roles fall away.
The self that doesn’t need to prove wholeness —
because she already is.
This poem is not a call to rise louder.
It’s a reminder that when you rise real,
you rise rooted.
And that is more than enough.
Create an essay and or poem rooted in this
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Because this is where the work becomes real — when you step inside it.
When you meet yourself at the threshold where truth lives.
Where silence ends and embodiment begins.
Where you begin to reclaim your fullest voice, your deepest presence, your truest self.
May your journey be a gentle one — rich with truth, full of grace, and led by the voice within you that’s ready to be heard. And may you meet yourself fully in the spaces you once avoided. Because what was once unspoken can become the language of your becoming.
This poem is part of the Essence & Expression pillar within The Unshackled Voice.
If this spoke to you, consider sharing it with someone else who’s ready to hear their own voice again — or give it a restack to ripple it wider.
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