Protecting My Peace - Even from Myself

I’ve always been the one who pushes through.

Pushes past exhaustion. Pushes through pain. Pushes aside that quiet voice whispering, “You need a break.”

For years, I wore resilience like armor. I believed if I just kept going, kept producing, kept showing up for everyone, that peace would come after the work was done, after the fires were put out, after the to-do list was empty.

But peace doesn’t live at the end of a checklist.

Lately, I’ve been learning a hard truth: sometimes the biggest threat to my peace… is me.

It’s not just the outside noise I have to quiet. It’s the noise in my own mind like the pressure to be perfect, the guilt, the way I hold myself to impossible standards and then wonder why I’m tired all the time.

I’ve had to set boundaries with myself.
I’ve had to say, “No, we’re not overthinking that today.”
“No, you don’t need to fix that right now.”
“No, you’re not lazy for resting. You’re healing.”

Protecting my peace looks less like bubble baths and more like catching myself in the act of self-sabotage and choosing differently.
It looks like logging off when no one told me to.
It looks like putting the phone down, unclenching my jaw, softening my own gaze.
It looks like reminding myself that I am not a machine. I am a soul in a body that needs care.

And sometimes, protecting my peace means walking away from the old version of me; the one who meant well but didn’t know how to stop.

She got me here, and I thank her.
But I’m not going back.