When “staying strong” becomes self-sabotage 🍋

After I was fired, I told myself to stay strong. 

Three days to cry. Then get up. Move on. 

That’s what I kept repeating while everyone around me said, “𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘫𝘰𝘣.” 

No one said, “How are you?” 

No one said, “That must have been heavy.” 

So I held it all — rage, fear, shame — and called it discipline. 

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐜 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞. 

One afternoon, walking with Mimi, I asked myself: 

“𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳?” 

The answer was 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦. 

If I had to start over, I would rebuild my life my way — with my own systems, my own rules, and my own peace. That’s when I stopped waiting for someone to hand me stability and started creating it myself. 

That was my reset. 

Not pretending. Rebuilding. 

🍋𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Ever told yourself to keep it together when you really wanted to fall apart?

#GirlTalk #GirlPOV #ToxicPositivity #HealingJourney #LifeTransitions