self worth

  • The Ones Born Under the Moon

    There comes a strange hour when the mathematics of loss changes. You stop counting the people who left and begin considering what left with you. The room looks different from that side of the equation. There will always be replacements. Another name saved in the phone, another body sitting in the chair, another person learning…

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  • Priority

    “You forgot something.” “I have my keys.” “Not that.” “Phone?” “In your hand.” “Coffee?” “Also in your hand.” “Then I have everything.” “You forgot yourself.” There was a pause. “That was dramatic.” “It got your attention.” “I am literally standing here.” “Physically, yes. Congratulations.” “Are we doing this today?” “Apparently. When did you move yourself…

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  • The Key at the Front Door

    Everybody is willing to hate you until they need you again by then the relationship has changed. Not ended. Changed. There is a difference. Endings have funerals. Flowers. Black dresses. Dirt thrown over something everyone has agreed is dead. Change is crueler. Change leaves the body sitting at the dinner table. It lets the conversation…

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  • Palace Standards

    There is a strange thing that happens when someone is offered two invitations. One arrives on thick paper, sealed in wax, written with careful hands. It is an invitation to a palace. The walls are tall, not because they are meant to keep people out, but because what lives inside has value. Every room has…

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  • There is an orchard few people ever speak about. Not because it is hidden. Because everyone standing in it believes it is normal. They walk among twisted trunks and fruit that never quite ripens. Some branches bloom beautifully while others rot from the inside. The leaves shimmer just enough to convince every generation that next…

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  • Chasing Butterflies

    There is a strange little meadow that very few people ever notice. Not because it is hidden. Because nobody stays still long enough to see it. The butterflies there are unlike any you’ve ever imagined. Their wings shimmer with colors that seem to change depending on who is looking at them. Gold for the ambitious.…

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  • The Garden of Echoes

    There is a garden that grows without sunlight. It doesn’t need rain. It doesn’t even need soil. It grows inside every person who has ever opened their mouth. No one plants it on purpose. Yet every day it becomes exactly what it is fed. Some gardens bloom with impossible colors. Others become overrun with weeds…

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  • The waitress smiled before she even reached the table. “The usual?” We all laughed. Some places don’t just serve food. They serve history. This little restaurant had watched promotions become celebrations, breakups become therapy sessions, birthdays become excuses to order dessert, and friendships survive decades that marriages sometimes couldn’t. It was my cheat meal for…

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  • The first time someone told Evelyn she was “too masculine,” she almost laughed. Not because it was funny. Because it was absurd. The comment came from a man sitting across from her at a company networking event. The kind of event where everyone wore expensive watches and talked about success as if they had invented…

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  • There comes a point in life where you have to wake up in the morning, swing your feet over the side of the bed, and decide exactly who you are going to be before the world gets a vote. Not tomorrow. Not when the money shows up. Not when the relationship works out. Not when…

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