"For years, I hid behind a mask so thick, I forgot the contours of my own face. Society taught me to be strong, unfeeling, a fortress of silence-where vulnerability was a weakness and self-exploration a forbidden land. But the deeper I buried my truth, the heavier the mask became. One day, I stood before the mirror and dared to ask, who am I beneath this armor? What do I love? What have I lost while trying to survive a world that denies my existence? The reflection shattered, and with it, every illusion of safety. I realized I had been living a life sculpted by fear and nonconformity-one that never truly belonged to me.

 

There is a war between comfort and freedom, a choice between the suffocating warmth of acceptance and the terrifying vastness of authenticity. Each day, I stand at the threshold of myself, wrestling with the question: Do I stay hidden, or do I risk it all for the chance to be whole? The fear of rejection is sharp, but the betrayal of my own should is a deeper wound. This journey is not just a reclamation-it is a revolution of being. To unmask, to bear my truth, is to break the chains of generations before me. And in that breaking, I find the only thing that ever mattered-the courage to be seen."