Carried, Not Broken©️ (っᵔ◡ᵔ)っ🔗‍💥by Felina Silver (Copyright 2025)

My heart
is wrapped around yesterday.

Around a time
when things were sometimes good🤞
but more often,
very bad.

Pain didn’t knock.
It slipped in the door,
held on tight,
so tight
it felt like I was losing air,
like breathing was something
I had to earn.

But I learned how to wear a brave face.
How to keep going
even when everything in me
wanted to stop.

I survived bullies.
Rules that weren’t meant for people like me.
Boundaries that were never respected.
And the ones who were supposed to guide me🧭
they didn’t know how.

So I found my own way.

Around the rules.
Past the damage.
Through the dark.

I became who I am today🕴️
sometimes laughing,
sometimes fraying at the edges,
sometimes quiet in a corner,
trying not to be seen.

I am some of the things
I always hoped I’d be.
And some of the things
I promised myself
I never would.

Mostly,
I’m sad for what I’ve lost.
More than that,
I’m sad for how much has changed💫
for the people,
the moments,
the versions of myself
that didn’t make it through.

Still…
I am grateful for today.
For this breath.
For every day
that hasn’t happened yet.

Because there is work to do.
Minds to open.
A world that needs changing.

We don’t survive alone.
We never did.
To live,
to heal,
to move forwardᝰ.ᐟ
we have to do it together.

And maybe the hardest truth is this:
sometimes the very thing
that held you down,
that pulled you back,
becomes the thing
that lifts you up💁🏽
and pushes you forward.