The Version of You That Has to Die
Some versions of you are gone for good.
There’s a version of you still playing small.
Still explaining things you don’t need to explain.
Still waiting for permission that no one’s going to give.
That version of you had a job.
They helped you stay safe.
They knew how to move in rooms where survival meant silence, or compliance, or overperformance.
And for a while, they were necessary.
But they can’t come with you now.
What no one really talks about is the grief of outgrowing yourself.
Not because you did anything wrong, but because you’re ready.
Ready to stop performing. Ready to stop carrying what never fit.
And letting go?
It won’t feel clean. It won’t always feel good.
Sometimes it’ll feel like loss, even when it’s growth.
Even when you know you’re choosing something better.
The version of you that has to die is the one who worked so hard to be tolerated.
The one who avoided their own truth for the comfort of others.
The one who believed that being needed was the same thing as being loved.
Let them go.
They served their purpose.
Now it’s time to serve yours.
Because there’s a version of you that doesn’t shape-shift.
Doesn’t tiptoe. Doesn’t abandon themselves to be accepted.
They’ve been waiting.
You don’t owe loyalty to the parts of you that kept you hidden.
You owe honesty to the parts that want to be seen.
So if something inside you is unraveling, let it.
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