IF YOU HAD TO PICK

by Meestique, The Empathic Social Observer.

Choosing peace over polish in a world with perception.

If you had to pick—being seen as put-together, or actually feeling light inside—which one would you go for?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. How easy it is to chase the perception of calm, of grace, of “she has it all together.” And how quickly that demeanor becomes a second skin. You start adjusting your posture, your tone, your responses, until even your silences are curated.

But peace… real peace… doesn’t ask for an audience. It’s quieter. It’s messy sometimes. It’s the kind that lets you exhale mid-conversation, or say “I don’t know” without shame.
It’s the kind that lets you cry when you’ve been hurt—even to the one who hurt you.
The kind that lets you say out loud, “this is what I need,” even when those needs sound utterly ridiculous.
It’s the kind that lets you ask for help when you don’t gat it, that finally lets you accept yourself and others.
It quiets the looping replays of conversations you wish you’d handled differently—yet lets you sit with the three versions of you while you all converse, even argue, in your head.
It’s the kind that lets you forgive people—and yourself—quickly, even when they never asked for it.
It’s not glamorous, but it’s light.

And yet, the world rewards polish. It rewards the ones who look unbothered, who have the perfect caption for every chaos. So we learn to glow on cue, to look fine even when we’re fraying inside.

Maybe that’s why I asked the question in the first place—because I’m realizing how exhausting it is to be perceived. How tempting it is to trade peace for perception.
Yet perception is important o—don’t get me wrong. But if I had to pick…

Maybe this is a small rebellion: to choose lightness instead of poise.

Still, your girl is going to slay every day o. I’m not about to step out of my house looking homeless.
But that’s not the point.
The point is—I’d still choose inner peace. Because whether I’m feeling put-together or not, I will just be.
And I’ll let others be, too.
And somehow, that will be enough.