Reclaiming Yourself: A Homecoming After a Lifetime of Shrinking

The Wake-Up Moment

There comes a moment in a woman’s life when she realizes she’s been shrinking for so long that her own reflection feels like a guest — someone she hasn’t properly introduced herself to in years.

My moment didn’t arrive like a Hollywood revelation.
It was more like tripping over my own truth while trying to play small.

I caught myself hiding my own work.

I had created journals, tools, healing resources… pieces of my story stitched into something that could help other women feel less alone. Real work. Meaningful work. Hard-won work.

And yet, when someone asked what I did?

“Oh, it’s just little journals.”
“Oh, it’s nothing big.”
“Oh… it’s just something I play with.”

I wasn’t minimizing the work.
I was minimizing me.

Because deep down, I was still living by the old scripts:

Who am I to take up space?
Who am I to speak with authority?
Who am I to be visible after everything I’ve lived through?

Turns out — more women were waiting to hear from me than I ever imagined.

The real wake-up moment came when I shared a tiny sliver of my story with someone… and she cried. Not because she felt sorry for me. But because she recognized herself in my words.

Her tears weren’t about my pain.
They were about her own longing to not feel alone.

Something inside me snapped awake.

It wasn’t embarrassment.
It wasn’t insecurity.
It wasn’t doubt.

It was fear — fear of being seen.

Once I realized how small I had made myself, I couldn’t unsee it.

And I made a decision:

I will not shrink anymore. I will not hide. I will not dim any part of the woman I fought to become.

This is your invitation to do the same.

The Cost of Losing Yourself

Reclaiming yourself isn’t a trendy affirmation. It’s not a Pinterest quote. It’s not a cute New Year slogan.

It is survival.
It is return.
It is truth.

Losing yourself happens slowly, almost quietly:

You say “it’s fine” when it isn’t.
You soften your voice so someone else feels larger.
You hold peace you didn’t break.
You become agreeable instead of authentic.

For many women, shrinking becomes second nature — a trauma response dressed up as “being easygoing.”

That was me.
Silence felt safer.
Agreeableness felt necessary.
Self-abandonment felt normal.

The consequences?
Emotional numbness.
Physical exhaustion.
Identity erosion.
Deep, unspoken loneliness.
And eventually… illness.

When you spend years disappearing to survive, your body and spirit pay the price.

But here’s the truth no one tells you:

Shrinking isn’t safety — it’s self-abandonment.
And the moment you stop giving away your pieces, everything begins to shift.

Reclaiming Begins

Reclaiming yourself rarely starts with fireworks.

Sometimes, it starts with brushing your teeth every day — proving to yourself that you are worth seven minutes.

Sometimes it starts with whispering “I love you” in the mirror even when it feels like a lie.

Sometimes it starts with the smallest boundary… held with trembling hands.

Mine started exactly that way.

And that tiny spark — that small moment of choosing myself — became the foundation of everything that came next.

Where the Full Journey Continues…

What comes next in the full version:

• The detailed moment I realized I wasn’t shrinking anymore

• The core framework: The 3 R’s of Reclaiming Yourself

• How to identify where you’ve abandoned yourself

• How to take back your voice, your worth, and your choices

• How to reinforce your healing daily using the Seven-Minute Rule

• The closing love letter to your future self

• And this month’s full Ponder Point

The rest goes deep — and it’s waiting for you inside The Vault.