Set your heart ablaze
I am writing and posting until it doesn’t feel so scary anymore.
Over the past three years, I’ve been through things that made me question what I’m actually afraid of. What other people think? Whether they’ll accept me or not? Whether they’ll judge me again if I open my heart and mind?
After a while, I realized that I’m afraid of pain that hasn’t even happened yet. I constantly overthink the worst-case scenarios because it gives me the illusion of being protected. Meanwhile, I completely forgot to overthink the best-case scenarios. What if everything works out? What if, on the other side of that leap of faith, all my dreams and desires are waiting for me? Or maybe even more.
Have you ever noticed that people who are truly at peace with themselves are supportive? Even when they criticize you, they do it not to tear you down, but to help you grow. They value you and your dreams. The people who make fun of you for following your heart are often the ones who aren’t okay with themselves.
So I asked myself: whose opinion do I actually want to listen to? Those who find the illusion of peace by tearing others down, or those who are at peace with themselves and genuinely want to help build you up?
When I started looking at my life from this perspective, everything shifted.
I’m not saying it’s easy to leave my old habits and fears behind. But courage is not the absence of fear—it’s choosing to move forward despite it.
There’s too much hate and too little acceptance in this world.
I’ve met so many incredible people wearing unnecessary masks just so they don’t get hurt. Hiding who they truly are, even though that’s exactly what deserves to be seen. Because they’re actually amazing: smart, determined, funny, creative… the list goes on.
I’ve met so many people who should show themselves to the world, who have so much to offer, but they hold themselves back because they’re afraid of being judged.
That same fear is the reason I was afraid to share my work for so long. Self-sabotage at its finest. Fearing success. Fearing rejection. Fearing the spotlight because then people would see who I really am, and I’d be judged the same way I was as a child.
I hide behind the mask of practicality so I don’t have to reveal how much of a dreamer I really am. How "delusional" I can seem when I believe in something bigger.
And then came the realization:
Who the hell cares what other people think?
Who cares if they think I’m too much? Too emotional? Too idealistic? Too whatever.
I simply hope they find someone who is less.
No great dream was ever achieved by people who refused to think outside the box.
And you know what?
I would rather die trying than spend my life believing it was meant to be nothing more than a treadmill.
I refuse to believe that.
I know there’s more waiting for me.
I didn’t get this mind and this heart just to live a small life without purpose.
That doesn’t make me better than anyone else—absolutely not.
But it does make me different.
And this is how I rediscovered one of my favorite quotes from Demon Slayer. Maybe I needed to hear it again at exactly the right time.
"If you are feeling disheartened, that you are somehow not enough, set your heart ablaze. Dry your eyes and look ahead. You may feel like digging your heels in, but the flow of time waits for no one. It won't patiently stand by as you grieve."
Maybe that's all any of us can do.
Set our hearts ablaze. Keep moving forward. And trust that being ourselves will always be enough.