The Hidden Journal

I don’t leave every door unlocked anymore.
Not everyone deserves to walk through me.
But I’ve stopped sealing every room shut, too.

───

Some parts of me are meant to stay open —
the ones that hold light,
the ones that breathe,
the ones that remind me I’m still becoming.

───

It’s taken time to know the difference
between protection and fear.
Between peace and avoidance.
Between solitude and silence that aches.

───

Now, I keep certain rooms open on purpose.
The ones where laughter echoes.
Where forgiveness sits quietly in a chair by the window.
Where love, even when it leaves,
always finds its way back to the door.

───

Not every space in me is perfect.
But the open ones —
they’re alive.
And that’s enough.

───

— Desiree