At 27, here is my reflection on this year:

This is a lesson I am still learning. In this world, you are just a number if you allow yourself to be. You will feel like you have no value if you accept not being treated with the value that you have. You will have no voice if you allow yourself to be silenced by the fear of your own voice roaring. You will put your whole trust in some people. And in the moment that you need their trust to be shown, they will turn their backs on you. And the heart they had when they saw you suffer becomes cold and dark. As if they have never seen you suffer. As if they didn’t see your self-worth melt right before their eyes. Their true colors spill out like venom right before your eyes. They will re-write your story as if they’re the ones who lived it. And you will be hurt. Sad. Disappointed. Your faith in humanity will break. And you will want to regret being the good person that you are. You will doubt your own sanity and wonder how the world could be so full of hypocrisy. You will wish you could be invisible and unnoticed. You will hate your own voice. And every light inside of you will want to dim as color escapes your soul little by little. But there’s a light inside of you that will refuse to burn out. It will persist. It will help you fall asleep when pain gets too painful. And it will remind you that your tears will not go unnoticed by life. That light is hope. Hope that there is always a morning after the darkness; hope that the tears you cried are cleansing your soul and purifying you. Because you cried them out of pain. And pain does not leave you if you do not feel it. If you can relate to these words, then know that this is the beginning of your transformation. If you’ve been this broken and you’re still fighting, still climbing, you are a hero. The world bringing you down is elevating you as a human. Stay strong.

– Najwa Zebian