There was a time when I felt bigger than this place.

Bigger than the small-town streets, the dead-end jobs, the same old faces that have already settled into their fate.

I used to think, I’m gonna get out of here. I’m gonna do something that matters.

But lately?

Lately, I feel like I’ve been folding myself up just to fit inside a life I never wanted in the first place.

Like I was meant to be something more, but the world sanded me down, bit by bit, until I was small enough to fit in a box.

And the worst part?

I let it happen.

The Slow Shrinking of a Person

No one wakes up one day and says, Yeah, I think I’ll give up on myself today.

It happens slowly.

• You take a job you don’t really want because you need the money.
• You stop chasing a dream because everyone tells you it’s not realistic.
• You settle into a routine that feels safe, even if it’s slowly suffocating you.

And before you know it, the version of you that used to want more—that used to believe in something bigger—starts to feel like a stranger.

Because that’s what life does if you’re not careful.

It makes you small.

The Ways We Let It Happen

The world doesn’t shrink you all at once.

It does it in little ways. Ways that seem harmless at first.

You stop speaking up. You used to have opinions. You used to fight for things. Now, you just keep your head down because it’s easier.

You lower your expectations. Not because you want to, but because it hurts less than being disappointed again.

You tell yourself “it’s fine.” Even when it’s not. Even when you feel like you’re dying inside.

And every time you do that, every time you shrink yourself down to make life more bearable, you lose a little more of who you were supposed to be.

Until one day, you wake up and realize—I don’t even know who I am anymore.

The Fear of Taking Up Space

I think part of the reason we let life shrink us is because taking up space feels dangerous.

It feels like asking for too much.

Like if you dare to say, I want more than this, you’re being ungrateful.

Like if you stand up and say, I’m meant for something bigger, people will laugh in your face.

And maybe they will.

Because people don’t like when you refuse to settle.

It reminds them that they settled.

The People Who Want You Small

Let’s be real—not everyone in your life wants to see you grow.

Some people like you small. Manageable. Predictable. Because if you stay small, they don’t have to question their own choices.

If you go after something bigger, they have to ask themselves why they didn’t.

And a lot of people don’t want to do that.

So they’ll tell you:

• “You’re dreaming too big.”
• “That’s not realistic.”
• “You should be happy with what you have.”

And maybe you start to believe them.

Maybe you start telling yourself the same thing.

Because it’s easier than believing that you actually could have more—if only you were willing to fight for it.

The Cost of Staying Small

Here’s the truth:

You can stay small.

You can keep your head down, take what’s given to you, and never ask for more.

And maybe it’ll feel safer that way. Maybe it’ll even feel easier.

For a while.

But one day, you’ll be lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and a question will hit you so hard it knocks the breath out of you—

Is this really all I was meant for?

And if you’ve been ignoring that voice for long enough, the answer will wreck you.

Because deep down, you’ll know.

You’ll know you were meant for more.

You’ll know you had a chance to be bigger, but you chose to stay small.

And that? That’s a regret you can’t shake off.

The Hardest Thing to Admit

I’ve been small for a while now.

I’ve let myself shrink. I’ve let myself believe that this town, this life, this version of me is enough.

Not because I really believe it.

But because believing anything else feels like too much work.

Because fighting for more takes energy I don’t always have.

Because disappointment wears you down after a while, and it’s easier to just stop hoping than to keep getting let down.

But I don’t want to do that anymore.

I don’t want to wake up five years from now and realize I spent my whole life making myself smaller just so the world wouldn’t push back.

I want to take up space again.

Choosing to Be Big Again

So how do you do it?

How do you fight back against the slow, steady shrinking of yourself?

I think it starts with something simple.

Deciding you’re allowed to want more.

Not just in some vague, “wouldn’t it be nice” way.

In a real way.

In a way that means:

• Saying no to the things that make you feel small.
• Saying yes to the things that scare you.
• Remembering what you used to dream about before life told you to stop.

Because that version of you—the one that believed in something bigger—is still in there.

Maybe buried. Maybe quiet.

But not gone.

The Reminder I Need (And Maybe You Do Too)

I don’t know where I’m going from here.

I don’t have a perfect plan for how to take up space again.

But I do know this:

I refuse to keep making myself small just because it’s easier.

I refuse to let life sand me down into something smooth and unnoticeable.

I refuse to wake up one day and realize I spent my whole life settling.

So if you’re feeling this too—if you’ve been shrinking yourself down, making yourself fit into a life that doesn’t really fit you—maybe this is your sign.

Your sign to start taking up space again.

Your sign to stop apologizing for wanting more.

Your sign to start being big again.

Because the world will keep trying to make you small.

Don’t let it.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Let me know if this hit you the way it hit me. Or don’t. Either way, I hope you remember:

You weren’t meant to be small.

Not now. Not ever.

—J