What Was Never Yours

You have been walking uphill

with invisible stones on your shoulders.

Promises you did not make.

Pain you did not cause.

Stories you did not write

but somehow agreed to finish.

They taught you to be strong by carrying,

to be loving by enduring,

to be worthy by holding everything together.

So you bent.

You tightened your jaw.

You made yourself smaller

to keep the world from breaking.

But your spirit was never built to be a pack mule.

It was built to be a flame.

To rise.

To warm.

To guide.

To breathe freely in open air.

Every burden you carry that isn’t yours

dims your light a little more.

Your sleep feels thinner.

Your laughter grows careful.

Your joy learns to whisper.

This is not a failure.

This is your soul asking for honesty.

Because some weights are not lessons.

They are trespasses.

And heaven does not ask you to suffer

to prove your goodness.

Love does not require your exhaustion.

Your worth was never measured

by how much you can endure.

You are allowed to lay the stones down.

Lay down the guilt that isn’t yours.

Lay down the shame you inherited.

Lay down the fear that keeps you bracing for storms

that are not even in your sky.

Feel how your shoulders remember themselves.

Feel your breath return to its natural depth.

Feel your life begin to widen again.

You were not made to disappear under pressure.

You were made to expand in peace.

Let go.

Not because you are giving up—

but because you are finally choosing yourself.