Category: Parenting after Shame

Survival taught me how to hustle. How to move fast, think ahead, plan everything, and never let my guard down. I learned how to stay useful, stay busy, stay needed. Because somewhere along the way, I believed that slowing down meant I was falling behind. That if I stopped moving, everything would collapse—including me. So…

Letting go isn’t about giving up or forgetting. It’s not about pretending pain never happened or pretending you don’t care anymore. Letting go is a powerful act of self-love. It means choosing to release what weighs you down—old hurts, anger, regrets, and fears—that keep you stuck in the past. It’s about freeing yourself from the…

After carrying so much weight, so many walls built for protection, it might feel like softness is a luxury you can’t afford. You might think being gentle means being vulnerable, exposed, or even weak. But softness is not weakness. Softness is strength dressed in quiet clothes. It’s the courage to lower the shields, to trust…

There’s a version of you that used to hope so freely. That used to believe things would work out. That people would stay. That love, once found, would be enough. That life would eventually be kind if you just kept giving it your all. But over time, that version of you faded. Not because you…

People often say, “You’ve changed,” when they notice that you don’t open up as easily anymore. That you’re quieter now. Softer in some places, but sharper in others. What they don’t see is why. It’s not that you’ve hardened. It’s that life taught you to guard your tenderness. There were times you showed up fully,…