I Don’t React the Same Anymore

I don’t react the way I used to.

Not because things don’t affect me—

but because I’ve learned what it costs to react to everything.

The energy.

The time.

The way it keeps you tied to things that don’t deserve that kind of hold over you.

So now I pause.

I take a step back instead of stepping in.

I let things be what they are instead of trying to change them.

Because not everything needs a reaction.

And not everything deserves access to me like it used to.

And once you learn that…

you don’t go back to who you were before.