You didn’t change, you just started noticing.
Your body can feel the difference
between being welcomed
and being tolerated.
Between being accepted
and being respected.
And once you feel that, you can’t unfeel it.
You ever notice how you go quiet around certain people,
not because you don’t have anything to say,
but because something in you no longer feels safe to be fully expressed.
You still show up.
You still smile.
You still play the part.
But you’re not really there.
And that’s not a flaw in you.
That’s awareness.
Some people will call it you ‘pulling away.’
Some will say you’ve ‘changed.’
Some will feel uncomfortable
that you’re no longer as open as you used to be.
But what they’re really noticing
is that you’ve stopped abandoning yourself
to make them comfortable.
You’ve stopped offering access
where there is no real respect.
And that might not make sense to everyone.
Because not everyone benefits
from you having boundaries.
But the right people won’t require you
to shrink, soften, or silence yourself
just to belong.
So if you’ve been going quiet lately,
it might not be distance.
it might not be disconnection.
It might be your self-respect
finally speaking in a language
you can no longer ignore.
Because not everything needs to be confronted.
Some things are simply meant to be noticed, and moved away from.
Your energy knows
where it is respected
and where it is only being received.
And once you become aware of that,
you don’t force yourself to stay
where you no longer feel aligned.