Unaltered Voices

I do not consider anyone a friend who secretly competes with me. Friendship should be built on support, trust, and mutual respect—not an unspoken rivalry. Yet, repeatedly, I encounter people who, instead of cheering for me, are measuring themselves against me. At first, I may not notice it, but the moment I do, my default setting activates: fallback mode . One thing about me is that I refuse to engage in a competition I never signed up for. Competition Among Friends? No Thanks. At my age, I didn’t expect to be still navigating these kinds of dynamics with other women. I thought we had outgrown the need to one-up each other, to compare secretly, to let jealousy creep into friendships. But here we are. The sad truth? Some people don’t know how to just be —they only know how to compete. They are so disconnected from their own authenticity that they base their worth on being “better” than the next person. But here’s the thing: My aura cannot be competed against. I am who I am. I own that...

At 40, she had never experienced love—not real love. She had grown up in a toxic environment surrounded by dysfunction, where love was more of a concept than a reality. She had seen glimpses of what she thought love was, accepted what was given, and convinced herself that it was enough. But deep down, she knew it wasn’t. Year after year, the same script played out in her life, just with different characters. The names changed, the faces changed, but the cycle remained the same. And at some point, she could predict the ending before the story even began. The Wake-Up Call: A Mindset Shift Her pastor always told her, "You have to change your mindset." But what did that even mean? She had no blueprint, no reference for what healthy love looked like. So, she carried on, unaware of the depths of the wounds she was operating from. Until one day, the teacher appeared. It’s said that when the student is ready, the teacher will show up. When she finally reached a point where she was ...