Where Self-Reflection Meets Empty Spaces: Releasing to Become

Most mornings, I begin my day with a self-reflection prompt—one that helps me connect with my true self, uncover my intentions, and examine my motivations in life. Yet, despite years of dedication to self-reflection, I often find myself unsure of what to ask.

To fill this gap, I turn to AI, using it as a tool to generate questions that guide my self-inquiry. I incorporate the cycles of the moon, my zodiac signs, and even elements of my Human Design as a Projector. This practice, for me, is personal growth and expansion.

But over time, I’ve realized something deeper: the answers are always within me. Yet, I often turn on myself—bypassing the deeper truths, avoiding the full scope of my self-understanding. This realization led me to this blog post and the need to share what unfolded.

The Self-Reflection Prompt That Prompted Change: "Where do I cling to control in love, self-expression, or personal growth, and how can I surrender?"

My Response:

"The ways I cling to control my self-expression is my outer world expression. The labels I place on myself. The roles I play. The masks I wear through my wardrobe. Expression has been tied to my outer appearance. I cling to this exterior version of myself while wearing and being surrounded by nothing that fits me.

Is this because I still haven't found my true self-expression? Because I cling to past versions of things I once was and not who I am?

Then the ways I cling to personal growth. The books I buy and don't read. The courses I have invested in and either ignored or took only to rush to the end. The workbooks and guides I write and haven't completed myself. The journaling and oracle card pulls that have not gone anywhere. My personal growth is a collection of areas I want to fix, reclaim, and do better in, then don't act on it.

I have clung to this version of myself. Stuck in my own comfort zone. Resisting transformation, leveling up, buying my way forward. I look around me and my office is compartmentalized like I am. Seeing all of the variety. Nothing really says "Sara" though.

To fully surrender, to let go, is to make space. Make space for the act of empty space to be allowed to fill up the emptiness.

Who am I without all the labels? Who am I in the empty?

Take away everything that doesn't fit me- what is left?

This is what I need most right now, to embrace the emptiness. Then deliberately, intentionally decide what is true, what is me, what belongs and speaks clearly to me."

My Response With Deeper Self-Reflection

"As I took down my are pieces from my walls in my office, I noticed all the holes. All the ways I have changed my mind, rearranged, repurposed to make things fit. This is how I see myself. Filled with holes from rearranging what was once there. Not filled in but covered over.

And I still have so much material things without a spot, that decorates my space just to sit there and be the thing I cling to.

Like my walls I am afraid to be naked. To show my true self. The vulnerability where I am. Covered, distracted by the illusion of fullness.

Covering the empty holes of myself, I cling to the form that overshadows the empty hole.

It is in the emptiness that I have remained.

I choose now to show the holes. To reveal myself naked without coverings, the ultimate act of vulnerability.

What is underneath that I am so afraid to face? Don't I already know the worst parts of me? Is this emptiness my punishment, self-punishment, and cage to keep my burdens hidden?

With the covering down, only I can see the empty hole and declare its truth."

The Power of Empty Spaces

As I leaned into this awareness, I looked around my office and saw the clutter—the art, the decor, the things I surrounded myself with. And then, without hesitation, I took it all down. I packed what I could in a box and hid the rest from my direct view.

And that’s when I noticed something.

With every piece of art removed from my walls, I saw the holes left behind. All the places I had changed my mind, rearranged, repurposed attempting to make things fit.

This is how I see myself.

A collection of rearrangements. Not filled in but covered over.

And yet, I still surround myself with things that serve no real purpose, items that just take up space. I decorate my environment the way I decorate my identity—to avoid looking at the empty spaces.

Like my walls, I am afraid to be bare. Afraid to stand in my truth. Afraid to let the world see me without layers of distraction.

But now, I can choose differently.

Your Invitation to Self-Reflection: Embrace the Empty

If this resonates with you, I invite you to sit with your own spaces of emptiness. Not to rush to fill them, but to observe.

What have you been covering?

Where have you been clinging—be it to labels, identities, past versions of yourself, or distractions that only create the illusion of fulfillment?

Emptiness is not a void to fear. It is an opening. A clearing. A sacred pause that allows you to decide, with clarity and intention, what truly belongs.

So, I ask you:

What will you allow into your space?

What deserves to fill your life?

And what will you finally let go of to make room for who you are meant to become?

You are not lost in the empty. You are in the process of becoming. You got this!