I smile, yes, while my soul whispers no.

When the soul whispers no. 

There have been many times I said yes when I needed to have said no—too worried about what others might think, too afraid of seeming selfish.

When I was seventeen, I got married. Not because I was ready, but because I wanted to escape the chaos at home. My father offered an alternative path—a car, an apartment, and the opportunity to study veterinary medicine in college.

But back then, I couldn’t imagine choosing myself. So I said yes to a life that wasn’t mine, and in doing so, I hurt someone who had loved me deeply.

When we’ve been taught to give ourselves away, we learn to live with two voices inside us. One cries yes to life, to passion, and possibility.

The other whispers warnings—be careful, don’t be foolish, stay safe.

But over time, we begin to sense the quiet cost of all those early yeses—the ones spoken against our own truth. Every time we agree to something that contradicts our soul’s nature, we surrender a small piece of our life force.

It slips away unnoticed at first, disguised as harmony or doing what’s “right.”

Compliance, no matter how noble it may appear, carries its own kind of weariness. The soul grows tired when forced to live in opposition to itself.

And we learn—often too late—that peace bought through self-betrayal is never peace at all. It’s a quiet exhaustion, a dimming of light that only begins to heal when we finally find the courage to honor what our spirit has been whispering all along: This is not me.

Even then, once we have been trained in self-sacrifice, we continue to have those inner conversations.

One voice urging us toward life—yes, yes, yes—and another whispering caution—protect yourself, stay safe.

We become caught between the yearning to live fully and the instinct to guard what remains of ourselves.

Yet with time, experience, and a few heartbreaks, something begins to shift. We start to understand that real love never asks us to diminish who we are. Those who truly love us will never ask us to shrink, silence, or reshape ourselves to earn their affection.

True love—steady, honest, and unconditional—meets us precisely as we are and invites our souls to breathe freely again.

Stepping away from the noise and looking at the world as it truly is—at flowers opening, rivers moving, animals living according to their design—we begin to see that the energy of life itself comes from authenticity.

Each part of creation emanates spirit simply by being what it is.

Those who live through love must remember this: care flows from within, like a river from its spring.

But if we do not tend to the source of our own soul, the waters will run dry.

Each lesson, no matter how painful, brings us closer to living in alignment with our true selves. The journey back to ourselves is rarely swift, but it is always sacred.

And when we learn to tend the river within, love—for ourselves and others—can flow freely once more.