choke, darling

You became.

There comes a moment when becoming quietly comes to an end. Not because you've stopped growing, but because you've finally stopped asking permission to exist.

You no longer apologize for taking up space.

You no longer bite your tongue to make someone else comfortable. You no longer fold yourself into smaller shapes just so others can feel bigger. You stop carrying the unbearable weight of proving your worth to people who were never looking for it in the first place.

The serpent, once feared, became your greatest teacher.

It reminded you that growth has never been about becoming someone new. It has always been about shedding everything that was never truly you.

The fear.
The people pleasing.
The self-doubt.
The silence.
The version of you who believed love had to be earned.

One by one, they fell away like old skin.
Then something remarkable happened.

You found your voice.

The words you swallowed for years no longer lived inside you. The truths you buried finally found their way into the light. What once threatened to choke you became the very thing you released.

You realized...
The serpent was never meant to choke you.

It came to carry away the skin that no longer fit.

There is nothing left to prove.
No one left to convince.
No permission left to seek.

You are no longer becoming the woman you were meant to be.
You are living as her.

And if someone can't stomach your boundaries...
If they miss the quieter version of you...
If they preferred the woman who stayed small so they could stay comfortable...

Let them choke on the skin you left behind.