05/12/2025
Take Care of Your Energy
Release what does not
belong to you.
You can spend years
pouring your energy
into filling every silence,
solving every problem,
absorbing every ache
that drifts in your direction.
And for a while,
it can almost feel natural,
to be the one who steps in,
the one who quietly
gathers the pieces
again and again.
But eventually
a quiet truth settles in:
you cannot be all things
for all people.
You were never meant
to hold every burden,
to answer every longing,
to soothe every wound.
Take care of your energy,
and your energy will take
care of you.
You are one life,
one heart,
one pair of hands,
and there is a tender kind of freedom
in finally honoring that.
Accepting this truth
isn’t an act of withholding;
it’s an act of honesty.
It is choosing to show up
as yourself,
not as an ever-shifting silhouette
shaped by the needs around you.
It is trusting that others, too,
are capable of resilience,
of seeking comfort,
of finding their own way forward
and knowing your worth
has never depended
on being indispensable.
And when you stop
trying to be everything,
the parts of you
that were stretched too thin
begin to gather back
into place.
You become clearer,
steadier,
whole.
And the relationships
that endure
are the ones that value you,
not for the roles you can play,
not for the burdens you can carry,
but simply
for the truth
of who you are.
~ 'Take Care of Your Energy' by Spirit of a Hippie
✍️ Mary Anne Byrne
~ Art by Vicki Rei