I Want to Be Held Too
Unsplash Photo by Kateryna Hliznitsova
I want to be small again,
not in years but in the quiet way of being held.
To climb into a waiting lap
and feel arms gather me in,
as if nothing I carry is too heavy to soften.
I want a love that feeds me freely,
that gives without keeping score,
as though my needs are not a burden
but something sacred.
Let me cry simply because I am tired from living and playing,
tears arriving without reason,
and be gathered close, gently rocked,
as if the only task in the world is to help me rest.
I want to walk into any room
and feel eyes light up when they find me,
a quiet recognition that says
You belong here; you are wanted.
Let me be bold and sharp and full of spirit,
and be met with a knowing smile,
a reminder that this strength will carry me
into something larger one day.
I want to hear I love you
so often it settles into me like breath,
until I no longer question it,
until it becomes something I know.
Show me the small wonders again,
caterpillars inching forward,
flowers opening without hurry,
ladybugs tracing their slow and certain paths.
Let me fall apart when I need to,
to rest in the weight of my own feelings
without being rushed to be whole again,
and to rise when I am ready
without it being remembered against me.
I want mornings that begin with gentle joy,
sleep still lingering in the eyes that greet me,
and nights that end in closeness,
held without fear,
held without worry.
I want every child
to know this kind of tenderness.
To be this child,
fully held,
fully seen,
fully loved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Leigh William writes for the places we rarely name out loud, where strength and tenderness live side by side. Her work speaks to women who have spent years holding others and are quietly longing to be held themselves.
With an MSc in Integrative Therapy, Leigh brings a deeply attuned understanding of the emotional landscape that shapes our lives. For more than 30 years, she has supported women, children, and families through life’s most transformative moments, offering care that is grounded, compassionate, and profoundly human.
Her path is both clinical and deeply experiential. As a certified birth and postpartum doula and midwife assistant, she has stood beside women at the threshold of new life. As a certified Yachtmaster and certified Ocean Therapist, she has guided others through the restorative rhythms of the sea, where healing often arrives in quieter, more intuitive ways.
Across every role, her work returns to the same truth: that even the strongest among us need softness, witnessing, and care.
Her writing is an extension of that belief, a gentle place where readers can feel seen, soothed, and reminded that their needs, too, are worthy of being met.
