People you ache for will reject you
Let them

People are going to show you
with their actions
the painful reality of who they are
Let them

People are going to violate
your boundaries
and then blame you
Let them

People are going to believe
their own version of who you are
despite truth or facts
Let them

People are going to misunderstand
misalign and malign you
Let them

I know it’s agony
to allow false stories
to take center stage
rather than truth
but let them

This way lies power
and healing and self-reclamation

The energy you were spending to gain
approval, inclusion, validation
is a false-belonging wound
that’s bleeding you dry

Warning:
To “Let Them”
requires many
stops
and
starts

Stop
the hemorrhage
of explaining

Stop
the frazzle
of justifying

Stop swallowing
the slow-killing poison
of defending

Stop striving, earning, performing

Stop telling yourself
you need their back-breaking
version of love
or understanding

Stop allowing their judgement
to injure your self-love

Take a breath

Dare
to fill your lungs
with something other than
anxiety

Exhale
diminishment

Inhale
expansion

Now start

Start
seeking inside you
the thing that you
always wanted from them

Start
owning all your truth
the beauties
and the beastly
daring to embrace it all

Start
delighting in the wonder of you
as vast as a moon-sky blanket
and dazzling
as a starlit circus

Start
healing the fracture
of your tender fierce heart
gluing and gilding
the jagged edges
with the 24 karat courage

Forgive yourself
for mistaking them
for your power source

The day you start
giving yourself
the love
you wanted from them
is the first day of your freedom

A sky walker once said,
“We’re all living in cages
with the doors wide open.”

You, little songbird, deserve to be free

Take wing from the prison
of your thoughts

You’ll soar

They’ll criticize

Let them

~ Angi Sullins prints, books and card decks http://www.angisullins.com

Art by Digitiel