For much of my life, resilience meant being tough, holding it all together, never bending. But toughness has a breaking point. Over time, I’ve come to see that resilience is softer, it’s in flexibility, in allowing ourselves to rest, in starting over when we need to. Here, I reflect on shifting from hardness to gentleness and why strength can also be found in softness.

Grief doesn’t only come with loss of people, it comes with endings, with shifting identities, with outgrowing who we once were. For years, I tried to hold it tightly, to keep it from breaking me. But when I softened, I realised grief could shape me, not shatter me. In this episode, I share how loss redefined me, and how choosing grace over hardness allowed me to keep my heart open.

You can be held by the warmth of loved ones and still feel alone. You can have family, friends, community and still find the journey inward is yours alone. Loneliness, in its own way, has been a teacher. It showed me that while support exists, self-discovery can’t be outsourced. This reflection is about honoring both the ache of loneliness and the quiet love that lives underneath it.

Dreams might not always look the way we thought they would. Sometimes they change shape, dissolve, or return in ways we never expected. For a long time, I clung to versions of success that no longer fit who I was becoming. Letting them go felt like failure until I realised it was simply an opening. This episode is about giving ourselves permission to dream differently, to see possibilities in the unknown, and to trust that evolving dreams are not lost, but rewritten and leading us to more.

Has noise ever felt safer than stillness? For a long time, it did for me. But with practice, I began to notice the life in quieter moments. When I allowed myself to stay, my thoughts untangled, my body softened, and slowly I found a calm I couldn’t find anywhere else.

A year into living in a new country, I found myself alone more than ever, but it wasn’t a lonely quiet. It was grounding, observant, full of sensation, breath, and awareness. Quiet doesn’t need to be empty; it can be a place where we meet ourselves.

And still, I want to acknowledge that quiet doesn’t feel this way for everyone. For some, stillness can bring up more than it soothes. Be gentle with yourself. Take what resonates, and leave the rest.

People, jobs, habits, even old versions of ourselves.. Sometimes they no longer fit the way they once did. In this episode, I reflect on the quiet process of outgrowing, and how it isn’t failure, but expansion. From friendships and careers to even the smallest shifts.. I share what it means to release with gratitude, to listen inward, and to trust that what’s meant for you will find its way back or make space for something new.

What happens when the life you dreamed of doesn’t feel the way you imagined? Welcome to the first episode of Words I Hope Save You, I reflect on being in a new country, in a job I once wished for, and still feeling unsettled. This is an exploration of presence, learning to notice what feels right in the body, and of finding grace in the moments that don’t quite fit.

A podcast about strength, softness, and everything in between.

I’m Lia, and each week I share short, reflections on life’s transitions, dreams that shift, grief that softens, and the quiet resilience it takes to begin again.
Think of it as a letter, gentle words to hold onto, and maybe even words that help you hold yourself.