Sooner or later, we all look back and regret something, not always an action, but often the words that slipped too easily off our tongues. Words spoken in haste, in innocence, or simply to fill silence. At the time, they may have felt harmless, but later we realize they carried more weight than intended.

Sometimes, those words become like stickers people place on us, labels that don’t fully capture who we are, but that linger nonetheless. Even those closest to us might hold on to them and define us by them. And so, without meaning to, we find ourselves misrepresented trapped by echoes of what we once said.

That’s when it becomes clear: not everyone needs to see our whole deck of cards. Even people who share our lives don’t always understand us fully, and maybe that’s okay. Being open doesn’t always mean revealing every piece of ourselves; sometimes wisdom lies in knowing what to keep within.

Innocence without awareness can feel naive, but there’s a strange beauty in it. Innocent souls are like budding learners still growing, still searching, untouched by malice. The world isn’t always kind to such purity, and people can overstep or misjudge us. That’s why growth is essential. At some point, we must learn to tell the difference between those who nurture us and those who drain us.

Sometimes, growth looks like staying quiet. Not exaggerating ourselves. Not trying too hard to be understood. Just showing up genuinely, with kindness, without leaving breadcrumbs for others to dissect.

In the end, words matter, but so does silence. And when we strike the balance between the two,

we grow not into someone others label, but into someone we ourselves can respect.