Stop Waiting to Be Allowed 🛑
"You do not have to be good. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves." — Mary Oliver
There’s a version of freedom that gets sold to us.
It looks like breaking rules. Leaving jobs. Cutting ties. Moving cities. Posting spicy quotes about not giving a damn. It feels bold. Untamed. Rebellious.
But…
"Freedom isn’t doing whatever you want.
It’s not needing permission to be who you truly are."
If your identity depends on defying someone else’s expectations...
You're still dancing to their music. Just in reverse.
Real freedom is quieter than that.
It’s not screaming “Look at me!”
It’s no longer needing to be seen to feel real.
I remember the first time I said no without guilt. It wasn’t dramatic. No big confrontation. No grandstanding.
Just a quiet “no” that came from a place inside me I used to ignore.
That moment felt holy.
Not because it proved anything to others…
But because, for once, I wasn’t betraying myself to belong.
🪧 Quick Break – Support What Supports You
Grab my 30-Day Shadow Work Journal and meet the parts of you you’ve been waiting for permission to become. No fluff. Just truth.
Your inner work.
Today’s prompt is a challenge:
Where are you still asking for permission to exist?
Permission to feel what you feel.
To rest.
To speak honestly.
To take up space.
Write it down.
Then answer this:
What would you do differently today… if you didn’t need anyone else’s approval to do it?
Now go do that. Quietly. Without apology.
Let’s talk about it.
What’s something you’ve stopped asking permission for?
Is it expressing anger? Choosing rest? Leaving spaces that drained you?
Leave a comment. Let us witness that shift together.
Your story might just be the proof someone else needs to start living as themselves.
All in all.
Freedom isn’t loud.
It’s not defiant.
It’s not filtered through performance or rebellion.
It’s honest.
It’s when your values aren’t rented… they’re lived.
It’s when you stop outsourcing your worth.
And it begins the moment you say:
I am no longer waiting to be allowed.
Let that be your truth today.
These small notes arrive quietly,
like morning light through a cracked window.
No noise. Just truth.
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Thanks for reading today’s Healing Text.
If you’re here, you’re part of something honest, something that makes space for healing without the performance. And I don’t take that lightly.
If today’s message met you where you are, and you’d like to support the work, here are a few simple ways to do that:
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And if you’re craving deeper reflections, long-form stories, raw journal entries, and shadow work tales that cut through the noise, I write those in my other newsletter…
Whether you support with a share, a coffee, or just by showing up… thank you.
With gratitude,
— Ryan Puusaari ☕💛
If this space feels like home…
If it holds your ache, your becoming, your breath...
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