I Was So Busy Being Strong, I Forgot How to Be Soft

When did you decide to be strong?
Not survive, but be strong.

And more importantly… what made you believe you had to be?

For me, it wasn’t accidental. It was a quiet, deliberate decision I made early on. I chose to become the backbone of my own life. I wouldn’t wait to be carried. I wouldn’t lean on anything that might one day crumble beneath me.

So I stood up fully, firmly, unapologetically.
And I built a life on strength.

And it worked.

It took me to places that once lived only in my dreams.. It shaped who I am. It gave me independence, resilience, and a deep sense of self-trust. Even now, I still pause sometimes and acknowledge everything I’ve built because it matters.

But somewhere along the way… something softer slipped through the cracks.

Not suddenly. Not dramatically.
Quietly.

Between the deadlines and the discipline, the structure and the success I became so consumed with doing, achieving, proving… that I forgot how to simply exist.

The woman in me didn’t disappear.
She just stopped being invited in.

And the truth is, strength didn’t take her away.
I did. Without even realizing it.

Do I regret the path I chose?
Not for a second.

Every decision I made came from a place of survival, growth, and self-respect. And I stand by all of them.

But do I miss that softer, more feminine energy?

Deeply.
In ways I didn’t expect.

Yet I’m taking the simplest, most honest approach I know.

Fake it until you make it and trust that she is already there, waiting.

She never left.
She was just patient.