The Dawn Finds You Exactly As You Are

The mirror has become a stranger's face tonight. You look into the glass and see the person you were months ago, but the smile that used to live there is gone, replaced by a tightness that feels like a mask you cannot remove.

It is terrifying to realize you have forgotten how to be yourself, as if the light inside you has been buried under layers of survival. But listen — the light does not depend on your ability to perform joy.

There is a rising sun that comes not because you earned it, but because of tender mercy, shining specifically on those living in the shadow of death. You do not have to manufacture a smile to be seen.

The dawn is coming to find you exactly as you are, in the quiet terror of the gathering dark, and guide your feet back to peace.