The Hidden Journal

For a long time, I mistook softness for weakness.
I built walls out of logic and called it peace.
I learned how to stay calm,
how to stay safe,
how to stay untouched.

───

But healing asks for something harder —
to unclench,
to open,
to let life touch you again,
even when you don’t know if it’s safe yet.

───

Softness isn’t the absence of strength.
It’s the courage to keep feeling
after everything that tried to harden you.

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I’m not who I was before the storm,
but I’m not made of stone either.
I’m something in between —
tender and steady,
gentle but awake.

───

Every time I let my guard down,
I hear my heart whisper,
This is what living sounds like.

And that softness saved me.

───

— Desiree