The Lightness of a Jacket

For months, I have been careful, almost severe, with money. After the scam, I tightened every corner of my life - no eating out, no frivolous spending, even scaling back my animal rescue pledges. It is survival, plain and simple.

But today, something shifted. With the chase for a career finally behind me, I found myself wanting to live here and now. Without planning, I bought a jacket - lightweight, simple, yet becoming on me. At first, the purchase felt "extravagant". After all, in this season of rebuilding, twenty dollars is not a small sum when I try to conserve every dollar.

Yet as I slipped into it, I realized it was more than fabric. It was energy.

When I operate from scarcity, I carry the heaviness of lack. My shoulders droop, my head hangs low, and I begin to embody victimhood unconsciously. But when I choose - carefully, intentionally - to honor what brings me joy, I reclaim my own energy. I tell the universe: I am not just surviving. I am alive.

The jacket does not erase my financial discipline, nor does it undo the lessons of restraint. Instead, it reminds me that life is not meant to be endured with clenched fists. It is meant to be lived, step by step, with lightness in the heart.

Today, I walk a little taller. My footsteps are lighter. And with every movement, I whisper to myself: This is my life. I deserve to feel joy in it.