Relationships are complicated; even a relationship with one’s self.

There’s a battle taking place within me—between flesh and spirit, between what I feel and what I know. And when that struggle becomes too loud, I retreat.

I find myself caught in the quagmire between the Hermit and the Martyr—one urging me to withdraw, the other compelling me to endure. I disappear inward while carrying burdens I was never meant to carry — not alone.

Yet beneath them both, I can still feel the other parts of me waiting: the Mother who nurtures, the Hunter who rises, the Sage who understands, and the Mystic who trusts what cannot always be seen.

Perhaps the battle is not about defeating one part of myself in favor of another. Perhaps it is about calling them all home—out of isolation, out of sacrifice, and back toward the heart.

Because somewhere beneath the struggle, love is still the center.