self-control – TYPiNG ouT oF THe BLue

Not all courage looks the same.

Some courage is loud.
It shouts.
It argues.
It wants to win right now.

Other courage is quiet.
It stays calm.
It slows down.
It keeps control.

Most people notice the loud kind first. When someone raises their voice or steps forward ready to fight, it looks brave. It looks strong. But many times, that is not courage. That is just reaction.

Quiet courage works differently. It does not rush. It does not prove anything. It holds itself together. Because it is silent, people often mistake it for weakness.

You see this clearly on the road.

One driver shouts, curses, or gets out of the car. People call that brave.

Another driver stays inside, slows down, and lets it pass. People call that a coward.

But reacting is easy. Anyone can lose their temper. Anyone can shout or threaten. That does not take strength. That takes impulse.

Being cool takes effort. It takes awareness. It takes discipline.

Being calm does not mean you are scared. It means you understand the situation and decide it is not worth turning a bad moment into a worse one.

Being cool is not pretending. It is not silence out of fear. It is a choice.

Here are simple ways to be cool in tense moments.

• Pause for a second. Even a short pause breaks the reaction.

• Breathe slowly. Calm the body first, and the mind follows.

• Ask one question. “What happens if I react right now?”

• Choose safety over pride. Pride can wait. Your life cannot.

Not every situation needs a response. Not every insult needs an answer. Some moments are won by walking away.

Staying cool is just as important. Being calm once is easy. Staying calm again and again takes practice.

When people say “be cool,” it should not sound like an order. And when people say “stay cool,” it should not sound like pressure. Both are reminders that control is already possible.

Everyone has coolness inside them. Sometimes it gets buried under stress, anger, or pressure. But it is there.

Being cool is strength without noise.

Staying cool is strength with consistency.

So the next time things heat up, ask yourself—

are you choosing to be cool,
and staying cool after that? 😎

⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ

***Merely Christmas • Darem Placer***
Out this season on **Bandcamp**.

Funny how we talk a lot, yet hear so little. We try to fill silence with words, thinking it makes us understood, when sometimes it only makes the noise louder. And while the world keeps shouting to be heard, we forget how powerful quiet can be.

Because silence isn’t weakness. It’s the strength to stay gentle when words could hurt.

We need to shut up…

• When secrets are meant to stay sacred.
Not everything trusted to us belongs to the world—silence is respect.

• When someone’s grieving.
We don’t fix pain with words—we comfort with presence.

• When someone’s still talking.
We don’t always need to jump in just to be heard. Listening all the way through is sometimes the kindest thing we can do.

• When we don’t know what we’re talking about.
Silence saves us from pretending to be wise when we’re really not.

• When the talk turns cruel.
Some jokes aren’t funny when kindness is missing.

• When anger starts speaking for us.
Words born in heat never age well.

• When truth will come out in time.
Let silence carry it until honesty can stand by itself.

• When gossip starts to sound fun.
Spreading it doesn’t make us wise—it makes us part of someone’s fall.

• When our pride starts speaking louder than truth.
It’s better to pause than to prove.

• When our words start to wound.
Sometimes we hurt people not because we mean to, but because we don’t stop soon enough.

• When our conscience tells us to.
The world’s already loud—heaven still speaks in quiet hearts.

I guess I just learned these things the hard way… because I Learned to Shut Up.