There is a silence that follows when you stop saying “yes” just to keep the peace, It is the kind of quiet that echoes louder than applause because suddenly, not everyone is cheering for the real you.
When I started showing up as myself no edits , no softening, no shrinking I noticed that something shifted all of a sudden. Some of my relationships started to feel… different somehow ,Not necessarily bad nah...., just not as effortless as they once were.
Yeah I realized some connections had only survived because I was careful, Careful not to offend, not to take up too much space , not to say what I really thought. But authenticity doesn’t allow for that kind of filtering, You know once I started saying what I actually meant
, a few people began to fall away and I felt that was fine.
It wasn’t always dramatic , Some people just drifted away, the conversations got shorter, Invitations stopped coming. And honestly? At first, it somehow stung, I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. But the more I stood in my truth , the more I saw that I wasn’t losing people I was losing versions of people I was never really close to in the first place.
On the flip side, some relationships deepened, The ones who saw me really saw me didn’t flinch when I stopped playing small, They didn’t need the old version of me to feel comfortable, With them, things got real , Our conversations had more substance. There was room for disagreement, vulnerability, and honesty. It felt somehow new and freeing.
I also had to rework my role in certain areas ,I was the fixer, the peacemaker, the person who swallowed their needs to avoid tension . When I stepped back from that, it was uncomfortable for me and for them. I had to re learn how to speak up without feeling guilt. And they had to relearn how to relate to someone who no longer made herself small to fit the room.
But the most beautiful part? I started attracting people who matched this new energy, People who weren’t afraid of messiness. People who valued truth over politeness. Conversations never felt more alive. I didn’t have to censor myself , or leave some parts of who I am at the door. It felt like breathing with my whole chest for the first time.
Being authentic didn’t fix all my relationships it clarified them, The ones that remained became more richer. The ones that fell away made space and it was okay too, And above all, I stopped feeling like I owed anyone a watered-down version of me.
That was the real freedom that I needed.
This is my entry to the HiveGhana's weekly prompt
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