Stop.
A letter about radical honesty, feeling what needs to be felt, and choosing what is truly light.
There are moments when everything moves too fast. When the noise of obligations, expectations, and the quiet pressure to keep going drowns out something essential – the voice inside that knows exactly what does not feel right.
We rarely give ourselves permission to hear that voice fully. Not the polished version, not the one that has already made peace with compromise, but the raw, unfiltered truth of what we actually feel. And yet, that is where freedom begins. Not in fixing, not in solving, but in simply allowing what is there to be there.
This letter is an invitation to pause. To stop – truly stop – and listen. Not to find answers, but to make space for honesty. The kind of honesty that asks nothing of anyone else and everything of you.
Dear Wanderer.
Say stop. No, no, we mean S.T.O.P.
And then let time slow down for a moment.
What doesn't feel good right now? Be completely honest with yourself. When you answer this question, you don't have to please anyone. Don't have to make it right for anyone. Listen only to yourself. Be radically honest with yourself.
What doesn't feel good right now? Breathe into that feeling. Feel it. Give it the right to exist. Let images arise. Emotions. Allow yourself to be angry about it, sad, cynical – whatever wants to be heard right now.
Don't do anything. Just listen. Listen until everything has been said. Until everything has been felt. Allow all of it, no matter how destructive it is. Simply feel, without doing anything. You don't have to come up with solutions. Just feel.
And when everything has been said. When everything has been given space. Then pause for a moment in the emptiness that has just opened up. The emptiness in which everything is, everything is allowed to be. Everything is felt. Everything is accepted. In which nothing needs to be changed. In which there is no past and no future. Only the now. Rest there for a moment.
And then ask yourself: What would feel better? Without wanting to change other people. Focus only on yourself. What would feel better for YOU? And then feel that feeling. Feel the lightness.
Is it good enough already? Be honest with yourself. Is it good enough? Or are you already trying to adjust this thought to the expectations of others? Are you making it "just barely acceptable enough" so you can convince yourself it is good, without stepping on anyone's toes? Without having to disappoint anyone? Without having to say no? Are you trying to please?
Then it is not good enough yet. Go further. Be more radical. What feels truly light? Warm? Beautiful? And simple!
And then allow yourself for it to be light. Allow yourself for it to be simple. Align yourself with that lightness. Choose it. And let go of everything that does not serve it and keeps you from it.
Thank you for being here.
If something in this resonated, I invite you to sit with it, reflect, or respond in your own way – in thought, in writing, or in quiet presence.
And if not now, that's okay too. There's no rush.
Until next time,
– Jan