A Letter to My Quiet Self
It is okay to be quiet, and it is okay to be loud.
To my quiet self,
I promise to be gentle...
You are vital and you are needed, but you are not needed everywhere, not all the time.
We have been told that being ‘the quiet one’ was nothing to be ashamed of.
It was nothing to be changed; that has not changed.
But this is not your world.
Yesterday we walked into a room where the hour was to be morphed by me. By you. By us.
It was our room to control, our pen to wield, and our story to write!
And yet we didn’t stride into the room with our heads held high, or our light beaming and announcing itself.
No, dear one.
We slipped in through the side door and kept our heads low. We observed and listened.
We took notes and waited for a change.
Nothing happened — nothing changed.
Because we waited.
It was our time to be loud and demand attention!
To move to pieces on the chess board and control the fates!
I let you lead, and you did nothing. And so, nothing changed.
Do not misunderstand, this is not rejection. You have your place — a vitally important place. But it’s time to accept, I have to leave you at home some days.
I promise to return, to take you out.
But not every day.
Not every time.
With all my love,
My Bolder Self.
Being quiet, and being small — can be my superpower. Sometimes that superpower is a wall, a cloak of invisibility to keep me hidden. I like to be hidden — unless I have something that needs to be heard.
Leaving my quiet self at home feels like a rejection, like a judgment of the small little girl who just wanted to sit in the corner and write, draw, and read.
I hope she understands that it is not. This is not her job complete.
My Bolder Self is there when we want to own our power and to be seen! To shout at the world “Look what I can do! No! Seriously! LOOK!” — why does that feel so shameful?
I’m learning that it's okay to be powerful and loud if that is indeed what I need that day. Just like I was always told growing up — it is okay to be quiet.
It is okay to be quiet, and it is okay to be loud.
