Reclaiming Self-Care: A Small, Unbroken Heartfulness

Reclaiming self-care isn’t always a grand gesture. Sometimes, it’s a quiet insistence, a small act of saying enough to the weight you never agreed to carry. In this piece, I explore what it means to soften, to heal, and to claim care for oneself alone.

I’ve been a whirlwind of thoughts —
blood flushing, muscles drained,
a stiffness that clung like debt,
a wrench lodged where ease should be.

For two days it sat,
a stye against the chest:
a sting that learned my name,
a knot looping tighter,
a wakefulness too awake to rest.

Enough now, you stubborn fool.
Let this one soften, let it soothe.
Let Care be mine alone —
for too long it was squandered
on hands that proved untrue.

So leave the stride,
let the buzzing crowd dissolve.
Their sins are theirs to carry.
What remains is mine —
a small, unbroken heartfulness.