10/21/2025
The Quiet Triumphs
Be proud of the steps you took that no one ever saw,
the ones made in silence,
without recognition or reassurance.
Be proud of the nights you lay awake,
talking yourself out of giving up,
of the mornings you rose
when it would have been easier to curl up and disappear
beneath the weight of your own exhaustion.
No one saw you steady yourself
against the quiet ache,
or how you learned to carry it
with a fierce, fragile kind of grace.
Be proud of the small, unremarkable moments
that shaped you,
the promise you made to yourself to keep going,
the choice to forgive someone who never asked,
the courage to show up
to a life that didn’t look the way you thought it would.
Growth doesn’t always announce itself
in loud or obvious ways,
sometimes it’s just a soft exhale,
a single brave breath.
So hold your head high,
not because the world applauds you,
but because you know what it took to stand here.
Every unseen battle,
every invisible step forward,
every time you chose to heal instead of harden,
those are your quiet triumphs,
and they matter
more than anyone will ever know.
~ 'The Quiet Triumphs' by Spirit of a Hippie
✍️ Mary Anne Byrne
~ Art by Annacosysoul
