The version of you that you're grieving might not have ever been real.

For a long time, I held onto this version of me I thought I was supposed to become.

She was always calm. Always put together. Always knew what she was doing.
She had the perfect routine, the perfect energy, the perfect life.

I thought once I “got it together,” I’d finally become her.

But the more I tried to force myself into that mold… the more disconnected I felt.
Because deep down, it wasn’t really me.
It was just who I thought I needed to be in order to be worthy.

And grieving that version of myself?
That was hard.
Because I wasn’t just letting go of a fantasy…
I was letting go of all the pressure that came with it.

✨ The pressure to always be happy.
✨ The pressure to always be productive.
✨ The pressure to always be “better.”

But here’s the truth no one tells you:

You don’t need to become who you thought you “should” be.
You just need to come home to who you’ve always been.

The real you.
The raw, flawed, still-growing you.
The one who cries sometimes.
The one who doubts sometimes.
The one who’s learning how to be enough in a world that constantly tells you you’re not.

So if you’ve been feeling like you’re not measuring up—
If you’ve been stuck in the space between who you are and who you think you should be—
This is your permission to let it go.

You were never meant to be perfect.
You were meant to be real.
And that version of you? That’s the one the world needs.

💌 Share this with someone who’s learning to love themselves as they are.
Let’s normalize becoming who we actually are, not who we were told to be.

You are already enough,
Joanna