Being Governed By

Being Governed By

I am no longer governed by fear

wearing the costume of responsibility.

Not by urgency

that never belonged to me.

Not by inherited rules

written by people who mistook control for care.

I am not governed by loudness,

nor by those who confuse dominance

with authority.

I am not governed by productivity

that ignores the body,

nor by silence

that demands my disappearance.

I am governed by something quieter now.

By breath returning on its own.

By the moment my shoulders drop

without being told.

By the knowing that does not rush me

or threaten withdrawal of love.

I am governed by truth

that does not need defending.

By consent—

inside my own nervous system.

By integrity that feels warm,

not rigid.

By clarity delivered calmly,

because it knows it will still be here tomorrow.

I am governed by what stays

when performance ends.

By the simple law of:

What costs me my self is too expensive.

By a deeper constitution

written in the language of the body:

pause,

listen,

remain.

If I follow anything now,

it is not a leader or a rule

but an inner alignment

that cannot be coerced.

I am governed by love—

not the kind that asks me to shrink,

but the kind that recognizes me

even when I am still.

What I Refuse to Be Governed By

I refuse to be governed by fear

that dresses itself as wisdom.

By urgency that panics the body

and calls it importance.

By rules that were never made

with my survival in mind.

I refuse to be governed by guilt—

especially the inherited kind,

the kind passed down as virtue,

the kind that teaches endurance

instead of care.

I refuse to be governed by volume.

Loud does not mean true.

Force does not mean right.

I refuse to be governed by systems

that reward self-betrayal

and call it strength.

By timelines that ignore grief.

By expectations that require

my silence to function.

I refuse to be governed by shame

that arrives uninvited

and expects obedience.

By love that must be earned

through disappearance.

By the myth that my worth

increases when I am smaller,

quieter,

easier to manage.

I refuse to be governed by productivity

that treats the body like a machine

and calls collapse a failure.

By narratives that demand forgiveness

before safety exists.

By authority that cannot be questioned

without retaliation.

I refuse to be governed by my own past

when it asks me to keep suffering

to prove I survived.

I refuse to be governed by what costs me

my breath,

my voice,

my knowing.

If something requires my erasure

to maintain its power,

it does not get my allegiance.

This is not rebellion.

It is discernment.

Not defiance—

but devotion

to what allows me to remain whole.

Refusal Vow

I refuse to be governed by fear, urgency, or shame.

I refuse any rule that requires my silence to survive.

I refuse allegiance to systems that profit from my self-betrayal.

What costs me my breath, my body, or my truth has no authority here.

Closing Seal

I release what demanded my erasure.

I claim what allows my staying.

From this moment forward,

I am governed by love that does not rush me

and free from all that asked me to disappear.

— Flower InBloom