Softness In A Loud World

Hi,

I'm going to take a moment to arrive here and I welcome you to do the same.

I've been noticing how loud the world can feel lately,

Not in sound but in expectations,

In urgency,

In the constant asking for more and I've been thinking about what it means to stay soft inside of it all,

Not numb,

Not hardened but gently open,

Especially in a world that keeps asking us to plan ahead for the next season,

The next version of ourselves,

That next moment that's supposed to arrive.

It's easy to just live slightly in the future,

Preparing for a life we haven't reached yet,

Only to realize that when we get there,

We're already planning for what comes after and sometimes in that constant preparing,

The present moment keeps waiting.

Softness doesn't always look the way we imagine it.

Sometimes it looks like choosing rest when productivity feels easier to justify.

Sometimes it looks like saying no without explaining yourself.

Sometimes it looks like letting yourself feel what's actually there.

Sometimes I think of a butterfly and how it doesn't rush its way out of the cocoon,

How there is a necessary slow emergence to that process,

A time that can't be forced without harm or a way a flower unfurls petal by petal,

Not all at once but in its own quiet rhythm.

I'm learning that softness is not a weakness,

It's a form of trust,

Trust that we don't need to brace ourselves against every moment.

If you're feeling tender right now,

I hope you know that tenderness can be a strength and that you don't have to harden to survive.

If this resonates,

You're not alone.

Thank you for being here.