# @janae_salinas on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DWO08T1jXWy
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/61413418-janae-salinas-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/993a6320f6.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-03-23T15:17:42.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** janae salinas (@janae_salinas) — https://gondola.cc/janae_salinas

## Caption

I did not expect the grief.

Not for people or places specifically. For the version of my life I did not choose. The one that would have been easier to explain at family dinners. That would have followed a legible arc. That would have made sense to people who care about me and find the path I chose genuinely difficult to follow.
I chose a different one. I chose it clearly and deliberately and I would choose it again without hesitation.

And still. Occasionally. In airports and on long drives and in the middle of nights in countries far from where I started, I feel something that I can only describe as missing someone who never existed.

The woman who stayed. The life she built. The version of ordinary I opted out of.

I let myself feel it when it comes. I do not perform past it or caption it into a lesson before I have actually sat with it.
And then I get back to work.

Because the life I chose is being built right now and it deserves my full attention and my grief for what I did not choose is not more important than my presence for what I did.

Get back to work. You chose this. Build it like you meant it.

#femalefounder #personalgrowth #womenwhobuild #mindset

## Stats

- **Views:** 65
- **Likes:** 4
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 0

## Tags

femalefounder, mindset, personalgrowth, womenwhobuild

---
Copyright (c) Gondola