There’s a silence that comes after the storm —
not empty, not lonely, just still.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t waiting for anything to happen.
No messages. No apologies. No return.
Just… quiet.

At first, the quiet scared me.
It felt like the end of something I wasn’t ready to lose.
But over time, I realized — the quiet wasn’t taking anything away.
It was giving me back the parts of myself I had forgotten while trying to hold on to someone else.

I started to notice things again —
the way morning light falls across my window,
the way my heart feels lighter when I breathe deeply,
the way peace doesn’t come in waves — it settles.

Healing isn’t loud.
It doesn’t announce itself.
It just arrives one day, quietly,
and you realize the things that used to break you
no longer have the power to.

I used to think silence meant something was missing.
Now I know it means I’ve finally stopped searching for what was never mine to keep.

In the quiet after everything,
I found something I didn’t know I’d lost —
myself.

Always and Forever

💬 Do you remember the first time silence felt peaceful, not painful? Share your moment — maybe someone still waiting for theirs will find comfort in your words.