I want to build a life
so stable
that if everybody leaves tomorrow,
I will still know how to breathe without borrowing air from other people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not because I hate people.
Not because I want to be cold.
Not because I think I am stronger alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But because life has a way
of teaching you
that human beings can become temporary without warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One minute somebody calls you family.
Next minute you become a memory they scroll past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One minute the room is full.
Then suddenly
you are eating alone,
healing alone,
figuring things out alone
with silence sitting across from you like an unpaid bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And maybe that\u2019s why
I started teaching myself
how to survive emotionally barefoot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because dependence is dangerous
when placed in unstable hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have seen people build their entire identity
around being loved by others,
then completely collapse
the moment the love changes address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I never want to become that fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to love deeply
without losing myself completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to care for people
without making them my oxygen supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because if your peace only survives
when certain people stay,
then your peace was never yours to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So now I am building differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am building habits.
Building discipline.
Building a mind
that can sit in an empty room
without turning loneliness into self-hatred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am learning how to enjoy my own company
without feeling abandoned by the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is harder than people think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because silence is loud
when you are not used to meeting yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A lot of us stay distracted
because we are afraid
of hearing our own thoughts clearly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we keep music playing.
Keep texting people.
Keep chasing attention.
Keep forcing conversations
that died three months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anything to avoid sitting alone
with the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But growth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growth sometimes sounds like silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kind where you finally hear
what your spirit has been trying to say
beneath all the noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And mine said:
\u201cLearn how to stand even when nobody claps for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I started becoming my own support system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not perfectly.
Not overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are still nights
where loneliness enters my chest
like cold air through a broken window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still mornings
where I wish somebody checked on me first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still moments
where being strong feels exhausting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I keep learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning how to comfort myself
without pretending pain does not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Learning that strength
is not acting emotionless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Strength is crying
and still paying your bills.
Still waking up.
Still trying again.
Still believing your life matters
even when nobody sends encouragement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That kind of strength is expensive.
It costs comfort.
It costs illusions.
It costs the fantasy
that people will always stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the truth is,
some people leave physically.
Some leave emotionally.
Some stay around you
but stop showing up for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And life keeps moving anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sun still rises.
Rent is still due.
Your future still waits for nobody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That reality changed me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I stopped building my life
like a house resting on borrowed pillars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I want inner stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The kind nobody can take from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want financial stability
so hunger never forces me to beg toxic people to stay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want emotional stability
so rejection does not turn me into a stranger to myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want spiritual stability
so when life shakes me,
I bend without breaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to become the type of person
who can lose everything
and still say,
\u201cI know how to rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because survival is not just breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people are alive
but emotionally held hostage
by fear of being left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I refuse to live like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I refuse to shrink myself
just to keep temporary people comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I refuse to beg for love
that arrives with conditions and expiry dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I refuse to confuse attachment
for destiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And listen\u2014
this is not bitterness speaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is preparation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same way people save money for rainy days,
I am trying to build a soul
that can survive emotional storms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just in case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just in case the phone stops ringing.
Just in case support disappears.
Just in case life becomes quiet.
Just in case I have to carry myself
through seasons nobody understands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to know
that I will still make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That I can still cook for myself.
Pray for myself.
Encourage myself.
Restart myself.
Pick myself up
without waiting for rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because sometimes adulthood feels like
being your own parent emotionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You calm yourself down.
Teach yourself discipline.
Tell yourself not to quit.
Remind yourself that pain is temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And honestly?
That journey is lonely sometimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there is something powerful
about becoming the person
you once needed other people to be for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Something powerful
about looking at your own life
and realizing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI survived things
I thought would destroy me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So yes,
I still value people.
Still value love.
Still value community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I no longer want my existence
to collapse
because somebody changed their mind about me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want roots deeper than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want a life
where even if everyone leaves,
I still remain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still whole.
Still standing.
Still becoming.
Still breathing with purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not empty.
Not finished.
Not defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just alone for a season\u2026
but not lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/r\/1H1umqbmAc<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Walking Shadow Poetry – Grow from what\u2019s meant to kill you.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n