The Unbreakable Light Within You

The Dimming Ritual

I have a confession: I’ve been practicing invisibility for years. Not the cool superhero kind—the exhausting everyday kind where you make yourself smaller before anyone asks you to. Last week, I caught myself mid-shrink in a coffee shop. The barista had gotten my order wrong, and instead of simply saying so, I found myself apologizing for the confusion I hadn’t caused and walked away holding a drink I didn’t ask for—just to make someone else comfortable. Maya Angelou once said, “Nothing can dim the light that shines from within,” but apparently, I’d never gotten that memo. I was too busy being my own dimmer switch.

What Light Actually Means

Here’s what I’ve learned about Angelou’s words: she wasn’t talking about the kind of light that needs constant maintenance—the fragile glow that dies when someone looks at you funny. She meant something more like gravity. You don’t have to think about gravity for it to work. It just does its thing, holding everything together, regardless of whether you believe in it. Your inner light operates the same way. It’s been there through every awkward phase, every failure, every moment you were convinced you were too much or not enough. It doesn’t flicker based on performance reviews or social media likes. But here’s the catch—it can only shine as brightly as you let it.

The Quiet Revolutionary

Dolores Huerta understood this in ways that changed history. While organizing farmworkers in the 1960s, she faced a double bind: be quiet because you’re a woman, be quieter because you’re Latina, disappear entirely because you’re challenging the system. The world handed her every reason to dim her light—death threats, jail time, colleagues who tried to sideline her contributions. She could have played it safe, worked behind the scenes, let others take credit. Instead, she coined “Sí, se puede”—Yes, we can—and refused to whisper when the moment called for her full voice. Her light didn’t shine despite the obstacles; it shone through them, illuminating a path for millions of others who had been told to stay dim.

The Daily Practice of Brightness

Your light doesn’t need dramatic circumstances to matter. It needs daily permission to exist. Start with the small surrenders—the moments you edit yourself before speaking, apologize for taking up space, or downplay your ideas to make others comfortable. These aren’t character flaws; they’re learned behaviors that can be unlearned. Try this: spend one day paying attention to your internal editor. Notice how often you revise your thoughts before they become words, soften your opinions before sharing them, or physically shrink when entering a room. Don’t judge it—just see it clearly. Then experiment with occupying your actual size. Stand with your shoulders back not because someone told you to, but because that’s how much space you naturally take up. Speak your thoughts without the qualifying statements that drain their power. When someone asks what you think, resist the urge to start with “I don’t know, but…” Trust that your perspective has value simply because it’s yours. The goal isn’t to become louder or pushier—it’s to stop participating in your own diminishing.

Today’s Revolution

Pick one conversation today where you typically make yourself smaller. Instead of shrinking, try showing up at your actual size. Notice what happens—both in others and in yourself—when you stop doing the dimming work for them.

The Physics of Inner Light

Scientists tell us that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed. The light within you follows the same law. It’s not something you need to manufacture or earn—it’s something that already exists, waiting for you to stop blocking it. Every time you choose to shine rather than shrink, you’re not just changing your own day. You’re giving others permission to do the same.

Your Brightness Matters

The world has enough people apologizing for existing. It needs more people comfortable with taking up their rightful space. Let them see you—unfiltered, undimmed, unapologetic. That might be the permission they didn’t know they needed.