There are many times I’ve felt powerless, with no control over the world or my place in it. Amid the frenzy of life, it’s often been too loud to hear myself think, and for a long time, it felt easier to wait. Wait for a changed world to arrive at my doorstep. A world more gentle and accepting than the one I’ve known. A world ready to step aside and allow me to take up space, to act.
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
Until I began to wonder if what I had longed for had been within my grasp all along, standing right in front of me? While I waited for the world, was it waiting for me too, hoping I would finally reach out for it?
I’ve since come to realize the world is what I make of it: a mirror reflecting each step forward, each finger raised towards the goalpost. Now when life gets loud, I raise my voice in return. Every word carries me forward, slowly but surely. They may not always be the right words, and that’s okay because real change begins with the courage to speak. And like butterfly wings, my words inspire, motivate, and empower. Little by little, I see the change I once only envisioned begin to take shape around me, stirred into existence by that first step towards progress.
-Mary