They told me to shine, but forgot I was human. They wanted perfection, but I was still learning. I tried to smile through the cracks, to carry every weight in silence. But no one noticed how heavy “I’m fine” can be. I studied their dreams, but forgot my own. Every “you can do better” cut deeper than they’d known. I stayed awake rewriting mistakes, turning shame into lessons, tears into progress — but still never enough for their eyes. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe I was never meant to meet their expectations — only to rise from beneath them.