With Sincere Apologies

I owe myself an apology.

For every discount I gave away like clearance tags on my soul.
For letting people cross oceans with my heart in their hands,
while they wouldn’t even leap a puddle for me.

I am sorry...
for the nights I forgot my worth,
for the days I folded my shine to fit inside someone else’s shadow,
for thinking love meant less of me,
just so someone else could feel like more.

But listen...
I am not standing in that same reflection anymore.
Now, I breathe in self-love so deep it echoes through my bones.
Beyond each breath, I feel grace cradle me,
like God himself whispered,
“Daughter, your worth was never a bargain bin.”

Now I love myself with a fierceness
that needs no permission, no applause, no receipt.
I give myself time to heal
in the right places,
with patience,
with intention,
so when love does arrive,
it won’t be counterfeit.
It will be the kind of love
that mirrors the way I finally learned to love me ...
richly, fully, without condition.

I walk different now.
Not rushed, not desperate.
My steps got rhythm with Heaven’s drumbeat,
my stride tuned to God’s direction.
Every move is prayer.
Every breath is grace.
Every tomorrow is possibility.

And I promise myself...never again will I sell my soul at a discount.

Never again will I confuse survival for love.
I am moving forward,
whole, unbroken,
guided by God,
and ready for the kind of love
that knows my worth...
because I finally do.

Ashé✨️

~N'gamé