wow. just wow. love this.

If somebody is investing time, resources, and energy into convincing you of your own worthlessness, that same somebody has revealed to you that they have a lot to lose if you don’t believe them. They’re protecting their own loss of power. Which means they perceive you as somebody who can take that power away. If somebody is putting in the work to knock you down, it’s because they’ve got something to fear about you if you’re standing up.

“Fear” and “power” are big words that make it sound like there’s going to be a Rocky battle. But it’s not like that, usually. The thing you could take away from another person if you live with worth and happiness could be something you have no interest in, something that’s entirely in their own minds.

There is something about my refusal to feel bad and back away that is frightening. Not to everybody – there’s a whole world that could care less – but the people who make an investment in silencing me have done so because they have made a cost-benefit analysis. Whatever it takes out of them to silence me is going to be less than what I will take from them if I don’t shut up.