They told you to be powerful, but what they meant was loud.

Forceful.

Unafraid. Unbreakable.

And maybe that never fit.

Maybe it felt like another way to say, “you’re not enough.”

But power isn’t always noisy.

Sometimes it’s the quiet knowing:
“I can do this. ”

And if not yet… “I can learn.”

You don’t need to roar to be strong. Gentle power is no less mighty.

It is the deep-rooted tree.
The steady breath.

The hand on your own back saying,
“Even if I am afraid, I am still with me.”

For the warrior in her garden knows more peace than the gardener who seeks war.