Awakening

And suddenly, I no longer cared who liked me, who didn’t, who spoke my name with warmth or let it pass in silence. I stopped counting invitations, stopped tracing the shape of rumors, stopped wondering what was said in rooms I never entered. Because the noise faded. And in the quiet, something softer appeared. not loneliness, not emptiness, but me. At peace. Certain. Enough. And for the first time, in the hush of no longer needing to be chosen, noticed, or understood, I finally found myself.