Poem: Embrace Who You Are

Embrace who you are—
not the polished reflection
you offer the world,
but the quiet, unfiltered truth
that lives beneath your ribs.

You are not the sum
of expectations placed upon you,
nor the echo of voices
that told you to be smaller,
so others could feel tall.

You are the storm and the shelter,
the question and the answer,
a contradiction unfolding
in beautifully imperfect ways.

There is courage
in showing up as yourself—
unarmored, uncertain, real.
In letting your edges be seen,
your laughter too loud,
your dreams too vast.

Do not sand yourself down
to fit into borrowed spaces.
You were not made
to be contained—
you were made to expand.

Even your scars
are constellations,
mapping the places
you have survived,
the ways you have grown.

So stand in your own light,
even if it flickers.
Trust that it is enough—
that you are enough—
exactly as you are.