The Light Behind Your Cracked Voice

The clock says it is only two in the afternoon, but you have already smiled three times today when you wanted to scream. You say 'I'm fine' and your voice cracks, betraying the weight you are carrying in the middle of the day.

The mask feels heavy now, glued to a face that is tired of performing okayness for people who would not understand the quiet desperation underneath. But there is a light inside you that does not need your performance to shine — it was there before the smile, and it remains when the mask falls.

You do not have to hold the world together with your own two exhausted hands. The light sees behind the act, and it loves what is hiding there more than what is showing.