Thanks to Eric Fulton for this writing prompt. Eric is the geo- tracking mastermind of Eric Fulton’s blog. If you haven’t seen his blog yet, check it out!
If your life had a volume knob, who keeps turning it down?
When I was little, my mother used to tell me, “Your voice carries.” It was her polite way of saying I was loud. For years, I felt like everyone around me was trying to turn my volume down. Eventually, I started doing it myself.
I spent years biting my tongue, holding back, and refusing to speak up when something bothered me. I thought that was just how I was “supposed” to be. But keeping the volume at zero didn’t make me peaceful—it turned me into a pressure cooker.
That silence manifested as a toxic cocktail of anxiety, resentment, and a low, quiet hum of dissatisfaction. Staying quiet wasn’t a virtue; it was a lack of a pressure valve. Eventually, the pressure would get too high, and I’d “blow my top.” It wasn’t healthy, and it wasn’t sustainable.
This is where the Bugs and Boundaries work becomes vital. I’m done compromising. I’m done accepting breadcrumbs just to keep the peace.
The most significant change isn’t just saying “No” to the things that drain me—though those boundaries are firmer than ever. It’s finally having the audacity to say “Yes” to my own potential. I’m no longer hovering in the middle, afraid to be definitive. The days of the “muted” version of my life are over.
I might still pick and choose my words with care, but I’m finally turning the volume back up to 100%.
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The article “The pressure Valve” first appeared in Rebuilding Rob.
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