Shift into Self Healing Thoughts

  I’ve been chewing on the word   sovereignty   like biting into a stalk of celery—fibrous, gritty, resistant. It’s the kind of word that lingers, stuck between your teeth. But what does it   really   mean to be free? What is agency, self-governance? What is emotional liberation? For too long,   sovereignty   has been tangled in political discourse. It’s time to reclaim it for ourselves. The hardest prison to escape is the one we build to feel safe. I know this because I designed mine—constructed the walls, employed the guards. But if you are beholden to someone or something, are you  ever  truly free? What holds you captive? For my sister, it was alcohol. For me, it was something more insidious: the craving for approval, the need to be needed. I hid pieces of myself to be accepted, shrinking into a mold for validation. Recently, as I dismantle the prison I built, I’ve been excavating the remnants of someone desperate for others’ acceptance. ...