The dark didn’t ask permission. It just pulled me under.

I didn’t plan on going down there.

Into the dark.

The belly of the beast.

But life doesn’t always knock. Sometimes it kicks the door in. And before you know it, you’re not who you were, and the way back is gone.

It’s funny, I used to think growth came from reading the right book, making the right list, organizing the chaos with highlighters and vision boards.

Nope.

Growth came when I dropped into a place where nothing made sense—where I couldn’t talk my way out or inspire my way up.

I was stuck. Disoriented. And honestly, kind of pissed off.

This was not the path I ordered.

But you learn things in the belly of the beast.

You learn that control is an illusion. That rock bottom has a heartbeat. That the dark doesn’t mean you're dead—it means you're becoming.

I met someone down there, by the way.

He didn’t look like much at first—ragged around the edges, scarred up, bruised. But he was still standing. Still breathing. Still looking for a way forward.

He was me.

Not the polished version. Not the one with the perfect speech or the 10-step plan. Just the raw, stripped-down version—the one that had no choice but to rebuild.

That’s where I learned the truth:

The beast wasn’t there to destroy me.

He was there to dare me.

To ask, “What are you made of?”

Because if you can walk through hell and not flinch, the world starts to look different.

You stop being afraid of rejection.

You stop worshipping perfection.

You stop waiting for the stars to align and realize—they’ve always been inside you.

So here’s the lesson from the dark:

You don’t escape the beast. You become something stronger than it.

And once you do?

You climb.

Not because it’s easy. But because you’ve seen what’s below… and you’re no longer afraid of falling.

Here’s to the fire, the fall, and the rise that follows.

Continue to live inspired,

P.S. What part of you are you ready to leave behind? 🧌

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