This is my renaissance!
A time for my growth,
The expansion of my imagination,
Creativity spilling over like sunlight.
No longer bound by the standards
This society once placed upon me.
For so long, I wore the shackles—
Golden cuffs around my wrists,
But they were never locked.
I had the choice all along
To be free if only my mind allowed it.
Slowly, I took off one, then the other.
Was it freeing? Without a doubt—
The most freeing moment of my life.
I had believed I found security,
But it was my own prison.
What of the rusty shackles on my ankles?
The heartbreaks, traumas, disappointments,
The endless whispers, “You’re not enough.”
But today I choose differently—
I choose to rise beyond the dark depths,
Beyond the life I created for myself.
Waking each day to anxiety’s rush,
Donning clothes that never felt like mine,
Painting my face to look "natural"
In a way that was never natural.
I danced that old dance for years,
Rising in elevators filled with expectations,
Each floor bringing new fires to extinguish.
Everything urgent, everything chaotic,
I felt less human with every step.
Was this the life I dreamed of? Yes,
And yet, it took me nearly a decade
To realize it wasn’t what I wanted.
So why force a life that brings deep unhappiness?
Today, I declare my renaissance!
And I will dance,
And I will sing.
Hooray to change—
To the rebirth of me.