The Luxe Edit

Have you ever stumbled across something that felt written just for you? Not something you searched for—just a quiet whisper that found you in the scroll.

It didn’t shout. It didn’t promise answers. But it named truths I hadn’t yet dared to speak. And its in the stillness. That’s how I found After a While …

Reading it in full, I felt something shift. Not because the words were new but because they named things I hadn’t yet put into language.

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🌿 Love, Not Leaning

One of the lines that lingered for me was the quiet distinction between love and leaning:

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul

That pierced me because I’ve been in places where I confused the two—thinking love meant holding on tighter when in reality, love breathes. It gives space.

I remember a season in my teen years and early twenties where I thought love was constant presence. If he wasn’t calling, if he wasn’t around, my stomach sank. Looking back, that wasn’t love—that was fear dressed up as closeness.

True love holds without suffocating. It supports without becoming the only source of stability.

Dependency can disguise itself as intimacy, but in truth, it places the weight of our whole self onto someone else. Love, in its mature form, allows space to breathe.

And that same theme—strength without dependency—shows up again later in the poem.

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🌸 Planting Your Own Garden

Another line that rooted itself in me was this:

So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

Whew.

I thought about how many times I’ve waited—waited for validation, waited for someone to see me, waited for permission to bloom. This line reminded me that no one is coming with the bouquet. I am my own garden.

For me, that looks like journaling/blogging, long walks, and creating small pockets of beauty in my home—even when life feels messy. Those little practices became my “flowers.”

Planting your own garden will look different for each of us. Maybe it’s building a career, finding creative expression, nurturing friendships, embracing solitude, or simply learning to enjoy your own company.

And beyond blooming for ourselves, the poem also reminded me of the power we find in standing alone

✨ The Strength in Solitude

The poem doesn’t just speak to love—it speaks to loss. To the quiet strength we find in standing alone:

With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child…

Let’s be real—solitude can feel like grief. It can feel like being left behind. But this poem reframed it for me.

Solitude isn’t weakness. It isn’t emptiness. It’s strength.

I remember after one particularly hard goodbye, I sat alone in my car, windows down, music off, just listening to my own breathing. It hit me in that moment: I was still here. Still standing. Still whole—even without the person I thought I couldn’t live without.

That realization was power.

There’s a kind of resilience you discover only when you stand on your own two feet. You learn you can endure. You learn you are strong. And you learn that your worth doesn’t waver based on who chooses to stay or who walks away.

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💌 Woman to Woman

If I could leave you with one reminder today, it would be this:

You are strong. You are capable. You are worthy of a love that holds, not chains.

Plant your own garden. Walk boldly in your own lane. Don’t wait for someone to hand you what you already have the power to create.

Because with every goodbye, every closed door, every ending—you learn. And with every lesson, you bloom a little more.

🌷 Your Turn

Now I’d love to hear from you.
Which line from After a While speaks to you the most?
Have you had a moment where you planted your own “garden” instead of waiting for flowers?

Share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love for us to learn from each other.