The Hidden Journal

I used to think healing meant movement —
forward, upward, anywhere but here.
But peace has its own direction.
Sometimes it asks you to stop running.

───

Staying used to feel like surrender.
Now it feels like trust.
Trust that the ground won’t collapse.
Trust that I can hold what comes without breaking.

───

I’ve spent years trying to become.
But maybe staying
isn’t the opposite of growth —
maybe it’s the moment you finally meet yourself.

───

The world tells me to keep going.
But my body, my breath,
they whisper, Stay.
Stay long enough to see what doesn’t need fixing.
Stay until peace stops feeling unfamiliar.

───

This is where the healing settles —
not in the next chapter,
but in the moment I stop turning the page.

— Desiree