Nobody told you how hard it is to take back control, how every step you take to reclaim your life feels like a small rebellion against the world, and how boundary can make people label you as difficult. I once had control, but I let it slip away, believing that peace meant saying yes, staying quiet, and giving people what they wanted even when they trampled over me. I thought harmony came from obedience, but all it did was make me smaller, more yielding, easier to use. Maybe true calm isn’t found in being silent but in choosing ourselves, even if it disappoints others. It’s in turning off the work phone at 5 p.m. on Fridays, in saying no without apology, and in protecting the little spaces that keep us whole. And if no one understands your choice, you keep going. Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is honour your own boundaries. Who needs validation anyway, when you’ve unlearned the need to please and begun to belong to yourself again? Perhaps the truest peace is in the moments you no longer have to justify yourself. M. | October 2025
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