I recently got a new tattoo\u200a\u2014\u200a\u0965 \u0905\u0902\u0924\u0903 \u0905\u0938\u094d\u0924\u093f \u092a\u094d\u0930\u093e\u0930\u0902\u092d\u0903<\/strong> \u0965\u200a\u2014\u200awhich means \u201cIn every ending, there\u2019s a new beginning.\u201d<\/strong> It feels like the perfect reflection of my journey so far. My depression turned me into a mental health advocate. My trauma taught me who to trust and what to welcome into my life. And perhaps the biggest lesson of all, life isn\u2019t a fairytale. It\u2019s full of bruises and cuts, but it\u2019s through them that you truly discover the real meaning of living. For me, it\u2019s about staying raw, staying real, and learning to accept life as it is. There were days when my body was signalling me to take a day off, but I wasn\u2019t listening because I was too indulged in working. I found that escape somehow easier. Then one day, I legit shut down and finally talked to myself and realised: Girl, I am not behind, and I am not broken. I am just in the part of my own story where I am still learning to rest!<\/em> I don\u2019t have to be hard on myself just to escape or to feel less alone. And then this quote stuck with me: \u201cSometimes you just need to retreat. Not because you are weak, but because you\u2019re healing in silence, rebuilding your strength in a language only your soul understands.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n There are days when I have to remind myself again and again in the chaos of work, family, relationships, and being a dog mom, that I don\u2019t have to be anything right now. Just being is more than enough. And it\u2019s not that I\u2019m a strong soul now and nothing hampers me anymore, that\u2019s not the case. There are days, even when life gets okay, that my body still carries grief, fear, and fatigue from years of surviving on alert. But what\u2019s different now is that I finally have space to feel the things I never had the time or permission to feel before. That reminds me I\u2019m also human, and healing, of course, isn\u2019t linear. Sometimes, it feels like\u00a0this:<\/p>\n You\u2019re in a safe, warm house now. But there are still echoes from the cold nights you survived. When it rains outside, you remember how it felt to be exposed. That\u2019s what this\u00a0is.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n (Rainy days make it easier to put my feelings into words, sometimes with a little poetry, sometimes with a few\u00a0tears.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I also resonate with this dialogue from the latest Superman<\/em> movie that softened something inside me: \u201cThat\u2019s where you\u2019ve always been wrong about me, Lex. I\u2019m as human as anyone. I love, I get scared. I wake up every morning, and even when I don\u2019t know what to do, I put one foot in front of the other. I make mistakes, I fall, but that\u2019s what it means to be human. And that\u2019s my greatest strength.\u201d <\/em>The moment I heard those words, I felt them deeply. Because that\u2019s exactly how I feel as a survivor. People often look at me and say, \u201cWow, you\u2019re so strong.\u201d And while I appreciate it, I don\u2019t always see myself that way. I don\u2019t wake up every morning feeling brave or invincible. Some days I wake up with fears, doubts, and the weight of memories I wish I could forget. But like Superman says, being human means feeling it all: love, fear, uncertainty, and still choosing to take the next step. I stumble, I make mistakes, I question myself, but I keep moving forward. And maybe that\u2019s where real strength lies, not in never breaking, but in finding the courage to rise again, no matter how many times life knocks you\u00a0down.<\/p>\n There\u2019s so much noise around me, always trying to shape what I think, how I feel, and even how I show up. Some days, it feels almost impossible to just be myself. I know the desire to fit in is human, but I also know that real belonging can\u2019t come if it means losing pieces of who I truly am. And this is what I so often forget: I\u2019m still a work in progress, still learning and unlearning every single day. Maybe that\u2019s why it\u2019s taken me so long to write this blog. But if there\u2019s one thing I\u2019m really trying to say through these words, it\u2019s this: no matter how loud the noise gets, or how many people try to quiet you down, keep moving forward. Don\u2019t let anyone dim the truth of who you are because you matter, exactly as you\u00a0are.<\/p>\n For me, survivorship isn\u2019t about perfection or some unshakable strength. It\u2019s about being human in the rawest way possible, messy, vulnerable, imperfect. So, my friend, I\u2019ve come to see myself as a flower. Some flowers bloom all at once, and others open slowly, petal by petal. That\u2019s been my journey. I may take my time, but I will bloom, because I am the kind of flower that still finds a way to grow even after a forest fire. And maybe, just maybe, that\u2019s my strength. I\u2019m learning that it doesn\u2019t matter how long it takes or how messy the process looks. Growth isn\u2019t meant to be rushed. What matters is that I keep showing up for myself, one petal, one breath, one step at a time. And if you\u2019re reading this, maybe you need the reminder too: you are still becoming, still unfolding, still worthy\u200a\u2014\u200aexactly as you are today. The world needs your bloom, in your own time, in your own\u00a0way.<\/p>\n To all the beautiful humans out there, I\u2019ll end this blog with a quote that is close to my\u00a0heart:<\/p>\n \u201cIf you were reading a book where you could never turn back a page, you\u2019d slow down, pay attention, and savour each moment\u200a\u2014\u200aknowing you only get to live it once. Life is the same: you can\u2019t flip back to yesterday, you can only be here fully, while your story is still unfolding.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Sending lots of love, hope, courage, and strength\u200a\u2014\u200auntil next time.\u00a0\u2665<\/p>\n Hello beautiful people out there, I have been struggling to write for quite a few months, as too much has been happening around me; new life lessons, new situations to deal with, and the constant process of accepting life as it is. It still takes a toll on me when I have to accept certain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133021,156680,100392,100389,133022],"tags":[],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-330533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hopes-and-fears","category-keep-moving-forward","category-life-lessons-2","category-mental-health-2","category-survivor"],"yoast_head":"\n
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