One Small Promise

For more than forty years, I lived like I was on mute. I tried to stay small, keep the peace, and never take up too much space. I avoided mirrors, skipped basic self-care, and talked to myself with cruelty I would never use on anyone else. My life ran on chaos and survival, and I honestly believed I had no worth.

In 2019, I hit my limit. I was tired of replaying the same heartbreak and exhaustion on repeat. I didn’t know how to fix my life, but I knew I had to start with myself. My only plan was this: learn to love me, no matter what that looked like.

The first promise I made was simple—brush your teeth every day. It sounds small, but it was huge. Keeping that promise reminded me that I was worth care and consistency. From there, I added tiny acts of love: walking ten minutes a day, eating food that made me feel good, resting when my body begged for it. Slowly, the woman I had buried started to come back to life.

Letting go of old beliefs was harder. I had to unlearn that keeping everyone else happy was the same thing as being loved. Renewal meant giving myself permission to exist fully—to take up space, to speak, to stop apologizing.

By the end of that first year, I was new. I trained for a half-marathon, left a relationship that no longer fit, and discovered that I actually like the woman in the mirror. Renewal, I learned, begins with one small promise and a lot of self-forgiveness.

If you’re where I was—stuck, tired, hiding from your own reflection—please hear me: you are beautiful, you are worthy, and you can start again. Make one small promise to yourself today and keep it. Renewal starts right there.