Released

December 22nd, 2025

I whispered to myself
In the crisp March air
“I’m free” through a smile
Pretending not to care
Meeting new people
Buried in distractions
Filling my life to the brim
Only delayed my reaction
Exposure therapy to start
Facing uncomfortable situations
Working on my impulses
And leaving room for interpretation
Between ChatGPT and my therapist
Then my love of writing
Working through the layers
With thoughts and actions uniting
I never finished what I started
Not wanting to face my feelings
But avoidance isn’t a solution
If I want to start healing

The End of Bargaining

September 22nd, 2025

You’ve chained me in emotional purgatory
There’s no more reanimation
I’m not a coping mechanism
To save you from your damnation
I waited for a love
That was never promised
We never talked about it
We were everything but honest
I felt the under current when we’d speak
And I tried not to get sucked in
Your wounds reflected my own
In a way neither of us could win 
I spent years bargaining with myself
Now here I am in acceptance
I couldn’t walk away
Because you were my reflectance
I got consequences
And you only had excuses
So you left me in your past
Once you saw me as useless 

Same Puzzle, Different Box

August 17th, 2025

Staying in your life felt like solving a puzzle
When none of the pieces seem to fit
The shape appears to match without lining up
And I’m stubborn so it takes a lot for me to quit
The puzzle was hindering as the years passed by 
But I was determined for so long to make it work
Now the puzzle sits like a story on my shelf
Because I was the only one doing the legwork

Note: This was actually the last poem that I finished this year. I’ve started many, and I will post later next year once they’re complete. For now, I’m going to pause while I draft my yearly recap and then dig through my old poems to continue sharing things I wrote in the past. I hope you all have a great New Year!