Going into 2025, I decided to declutter my life and reflect on what happened the past year. I came across my favourite poem by Stephanie Bennett-Henry that resonated so strongly that it made me cry the first time I read it. It spoke volumes and perfectly described my lifelong struggle.
I was never the pretty one. I was not the popular one. I was the people-pleaser. I was the fixer. Everyone’s needs except mine mattered. I was told that I was the only one that they could depend on. I grew up like that to the point that when I had no one, I did not know who I am. It took years for me to work on healing and acknowledging that my needs matter too.
The poem still gives me goosebumps till this day. I hope that this poem will help you the same way that it inspired me.
Poem by Stephanie Bennett-Henry
Get up.
Unlearn every single thing that taught you to stay down, forget every person or path that made you feel not good enough, look away from all the hungry eyes waiting to judge you, and distance yourself from those busy mouths that never learned to mind their own.
Rip it off.
Grab the expectations someone else dressed you in, tear them up, throw them away. Kick the lid off the box, love. You don’t belong there. You never did.
Cross the line.
Those lines you aren’t supposed to cross, cross them so hard, the ground shakes, the lines break and new lines are drawn softly in the iris of your eyes, where the sky looks to know exactly how to move. And it moves with you like the ocean, like a dance, like the music you rewrote the words to.
Do YOU.
Nothing less. You. You uncaged songbird, you one winged bird flying anyway, you beautiful dance that doesn’t need music to move like you do. Because your heart beats poetry that stands on its own, the sky sways so you know you’re not alone, and the birds watch and learn the beauty of your flight; hold tight.. the mountains are watching you and trying not to crumble.