So I tried the opposite. For one year, I made myself small on purpose.
I used to think visibility was the goal. The louder the presence, the clearer the existence. But somewhere between the performance of living and the actual act of it, I learned something that cracked me open: you cannot bloom in a room where everyone is shouting your name. ala melissa set
— Ala Melissa
We are raised to assemble ourselves like resumes. Highlight this skill, minimize that flaw, keep the voice steady, smile in the pause. We become curators of our own cages. And yes, there is power in being seen. But there is also a quiet violence in being seen wrong — reduced to the version of you that fits inside someone else’s frame. So I tried the opposite