🌿Peace Is Priceless🌿

There comes a time in life when you stop chasing approval, validation, or the illusion of comfort—and you start chasing peace.

I learned that the hard way.

Growing up in Jamaica, I had what many would consider “the basics”—a roof over my head, food to eat, books to study, a way to get to school. And yes, I’m grateful for that. But material provision doesn’t replace emotional support. It doesn’t hold your hand when you’re crying alone in your room. It doesn’t validate your feelings when the world keeps telling you to hush and grow up. It doesn’t heal the wounds of silence, of being misunderstood, of feeling invisible in the one place that was supposed to feel like home. I was constantly depressed as a child, though nobody would’ve known. I was too afraid to speak. Too afraid that my voice would be dismissed—or worse, belittled. I was told to be quiet, to behave, to mature faster than I should’ve had to, because no one was there for me emotionally. I learned early on how to carry pain in silence.

I was smart. I got good grades. But even that was met with, “You could’ve done better.” Never a “well done.” Never a “I’m proud of you.” Just the pressure to always be more.  And then there was the passive-aggressiveness. The kind you feel in your bones before you understand the words behind it. The subtle jabs, the disapproving stares, the cold distance that makes you question what you did to deserve it—especially when they act like it’s all in your head. But it wasn’t.

So when I became an adult, I made a choice: I will no longer exist in spaces where I am only tolerated. I stepped away from the house I grew up in—not because I was ungrateful, but because I could no longer sacrifice my peace to maintain an illusion of belonging.

Now, I pay rent. 

I buy groceries. 

I budget like crazy. 

Some months I don’t know how ends will meet—but somehow, they always do. 

I’m a single mother now (and thank God for good co-parenting), but it’s still a lot. 

The weight of adulting can feel like a mountain. But I’ll say this: I am finally free to breathe.

Yes, I traded comfort for chaos. But I also traded oppression for peace of mind. And that trade was worth it.

Because peace is not just a luxury.  It is survival. It is waking up and not dreading the day.  It is making decisions from clarity, not fear.  It is hearing your own thoughts without the static of judgment or manipulation.

Some people will never understand why I chose distance. Why I chose quiet. Why I chose me. But the truth is simple:  

I CHOSE PEACE

AND PEACE, IS PRICELESS.

–Humanity ECW