ANT EST: The Price of Truth

Truth demands your illusions— and offers you nothing but yourself.

No one tells you
truth will cost you
everything built
on pretending.

But what it gives back
is a peace no mask can mimic.

You’ll lose old mirrors.
Watch familiar faces fade.
You’ll let go of people
you once thought were permanent.
Because their comfort
was tied to the version of you
that stayed asleep.

This is what happens
when your frequency shifts:
You stop fitting into old rooms.
You stop playing roles
that kept you liked—but not alive.

And that shift?
It asks everything of you.

You’ll doubt the mission.
You’ll question the cost.
You’ll rage at the silence.
Ache for the life you left behind.
Wonder if you gave it all up for nothing.
If maybe…
they were right.

But they weren’t.
And somewhere inside,
you’ve always known—
even when it hurt.
Especially when it hurt.

You’ll crave relief—
until you remember
that wasn’t peace.

It wasn’t the truth that hurt.
It was the detachment—
from everything that was never really yours.
The role you outgrew.
The applause that kept you small.
The praise that fed the mask.

They weren’t the real you.
Just costumes shaped by fear,
worn to survive.

Remembrance isn’t gentle.
To remember who you are
is to risk everything
that once kept you safe.

Because the light can’t live
in the life you built
to survive the dark.

And if the truth feels expensive—
it’s because your freedom
is priceless.

-Gabriel Santos