The Freedom of the Border

I will never apologize for any of this—not to anyone, not even to myself:

For speaking my truth without pretense or filter.
For keeping certain boundaries intact, and refusing to cross them when it would wound me.
For saying a plain "no" to anything I don't wish to do or say.
For crying suddenly, swept up in emotion, unashamed.
For not answering the phone when I don't feel like it, whoever's calling.
For taking rest when I need it, for telling work to wait awhile...
For asking clearly about things others find simple, until I truly understand.
For what strangers think or say about me, when they don't know me at all.
For moving myself forward, even against the current's pull.
For disagreeing with others, even on things the world has already settled.
For putting myself first, because a person who doesn't fight for themselves can never truly show up for anyone else.
For refusing anything less than what I deserve.
For not clinging to what is meant to leave.
For tending to my own wounds instead of waiting for someone's hands, because the truth is—your suffering moves no one but you.

Life is short. We were not sent to this earth to spend it drowning in apologies, watching our years slip away in endless sorrow.