03/14/2026
There are seasons
when a woman is asked
to become smaller
so others can stay comfortable.
Do not listen.
The butterfly does not apologize
for leaving the ground.
It does not ask the wind
if it is allowed
to become more beautiful.
Our elders taught
that change is not betrayal.
It is part of life.
Winter becomes spring.
A seed becomes medicine.
A girl becomes a woman
when she learns
that her spirit was never meant
to live in a cage.
Look at her.
Eyes closed,
face lifted,
hair moving like prayer
through the air.
This is not pride.
This is remembrance.
The sacred kind.
The kind that happens
when a soul finally returns
to itself.
Some people will only recognize you
when you are hurting.
When you are quiet.
When you are easy to hold down.
Let them be confused
by your healing.
You were not made
to stay broken
just because others
grew familiar with your wounds.
Even the butterflies know
that becoming
requires a leaving.
Leaving old fear.
Leaving the voices
that called your softness weakness.
Leaving the hands
that loved your silence
more than your truth.
So rise gently,
but rise fully.
Wear your beauty
like ceremony.
Wear your scars
like teachings.
Wear your peace
like something protected
by generations
who prayed
you would survive long enough
to find it.
The sky is full
of small golden wings.
That is how blessings come
sometimes.
Not all at once.
But enough
to remind you
that the Creator
is still writing light
into your story.
Do not fear
the woman you are becoming.
She has been waiting
for you
with patience,
with courage,
with a name
the world did not give
and cannot take away.
And when the time comes
to choose between shrinking
and becoming,
choose becoming
every time.
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