A Wren Says

I don’t know when it happened, but I awakened and realized how small I got. I came to find myself minimized. When did it happen? When did I become so assuming? When did I decide that I won’t take up any more than the necessary space, and would take less than that if you asked me too? When did I begin to shrink?

Was it when I decided I needed to fit into the box and cast off the biggest pieces of me?

When I thought it would be easier to hide and be overlooked by over critics if I made myself microscopic?

When I decided that as I was wasn’t good enough, so I shrank down to a more palatable form?

When I so overinflated everyone else’s worth and value over my own that it made me tiny in comparison?

Now I choose to expand. I’ll build my own box, big enough hold all that I am. I’ll pick up the pieces and reassemble the best parts of me. I inhale deeply the compliments and affirmations I so easily discarded before. I will pump up my own ego, recognizing the value of my gifts, talents, and accomplishments. And I will right size my opinions of others and release the temptation to compare our very different selves. see that they are not larger than life.

I don’t know the moment I became small, but I do know that here and now, this is the moment that I choose to grow into who I desire to be.

You deserve to take up space.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie