Addiction

I feel safe to breathe as myself with you.
Not louder.
Not smaller.
Not edited for approval.

Just breathing.
In the same room.
In the same silence.
And the silence doesn’t ask for anything.

There’s comfort in not having to fill the space—
no scrambling for words,
no proving we belong here.
Just the ease of being side by side,
each of us tending to our own inner work
without drifting apart.

What we’re building isn’t rescue.
It isn’t urgency.
It’s alignment.

Two people working alongside each other—
not toward the same dream,
but toward dreams that respect one another.
Parallel paths that touch,
intersect,
and keep their shape.

Hope doesn’t feel loud here.
It feels steady.
Like trust that grows without announcement.
Like effort that doesn’t cost your nervous system its peace.

If love is anything lately,
it’s this:
the freedom to be whole on your own
and still choose to walk together.

No rush.
No performance.
Just presence—
and the quiet confidence that we’re allowed
to grow at the same time.

#MightyPoets #MentalHealth #Addiction #MightyTogether

Annie,

I don’t know how to write this
without wanting to run from it,
so I’m just going to tell the truth.

I didn’t fall apart the day you
died because your noodles
needed me to be strong.

I fell apart because I couldn’t love you
the way you loved me
when it mattered most.

You were my first safe place.
My loudest cheerleader.

The one who saw me
before I learned how to hide.

You loved without shame.

Without hesitation.
Without conditions.

You loved your noodles like that.
You loved me like that.

And I didn’t know how
to love you through your pain—
not because I didn’t care,
but because I was drowning
in my own.

The calls scared me.

The changes confused me.
I told myself I didn’t know
what to do.

But sometimes not knowing
is just another way
of not showing up.

When they said you were gone-
I thought it was a mistake.

It was a knee surgery—
a simple procedure—
how could you be gone?

You were just here.

You were always just here.

I still don’t understand
how the world kept moving
without you holding it together.

I carry the shame.

The guilt.

The questions with no answers.

I don’t know how to grieve you
without breaking open
everything I worked so hard
to survive.

But I want you to know this:

I’m trying now.

I’m learning how to show up.
How to love loudly.
How to stay.

I’m making room for joy again.
For milestones.
For connection.

I’m loving people
the way you loved me—
because that’s the only way
I know how to keep you close.

If love doesn’t end,
then neither do you.

And every time I choose
to stay present,
to stay soft,
to stay open—
that’s me choosing you.

Love always,
me

#MightyPoets #MentalHealth #Addiction #Grief #PTSD #MightyTogether

I am not broken—
I am rested
for the first time

and everything
feels unfamiliar
because of it.

#MightyPoets #MentalHealth #ADHD #PTSD #Addiction

I was built
to endure storms,
not to live
under clear skies.

Now the hardest work
is learning
I don’t need armor
to be held.

#MightyPoets #MentalHealth #Addiction #PTSD