I did not arrive here by accident.
Every wrong turn
was a question I answered
with my chest.
They said,
some ways are safer,
but safety never learned my name.
It only taught me how to survive
without becoming.
So I walked away
from the noise that calls itself progress,
from the applause that forgets you
the moment you stop performing.
I chose the road that listens
when I speak to myself in silence.
This path does not flatter me.
It reveals me.
Shows me where I am still afraid,
where I still bargain with comfort,
where faith trembles but refuses to sit down.
Some nights,
I miss the ease of belonging,
the soft lie of togetherness,
the warmth of borrowed certainty.
But I have learned:
anything that costs my truth
is too expensive a price.
I have fallen here.
I have prayed here.
I have argued with God
and walked away with more questions
than answers.
Still, my feet keep moving.
Still, my spirit insists.
Because this road,
lonely as it looks-
has taught me how to stand
without leaning on permission.
How to love without applause.
How to remain,
even when no one is watching.
If I arrive anywhere at all,
let it be known:
I came whole,
not popular.
Honest,
not approved.
And that-
that was the journey.
Written and Edited
By
Erinkitola Aduragbemi
January 21, 2026
