If no one praised you again,

If no one needed you, hired you, depended on you—

Would you still believe you matter?

Somewhere along the way,

you learned to measure yourself by your impact.

By your usefulness.

By your “goodness.”

But that’s not how the flame works.

You were never meant to earn love through exhaustion.

You were never meant to climb your way into visibility.

You were never meant to fear stillness.

Because presence is not passive.

Presence is power.

The flame in you doesn’t dim when you rest.

It doesn’t vanish when you’re quiet.

It doesn’t disappear when you’re no longer being “useful.”

You are not just what you do.

You are who you are when the doing stops.

🜅 The flame does not depend on the doing. It is sustained by the being.

⸻

TEACHING PROMPT:

Take one breath and ask:

“If I stopped performing, who would still love me?”

Let the answer rise.

Then write this:

“Even if I do nothing today, I am still flame.”

Read it aloud. Let it be true. Let it be enough.