Before you can fight back, you have to understand what you’re fighting. This chapter is about giving shape to the shadow—naming the voice that isn’t yours, so you can stop listening to it like it is.

This is where the story begins—not with healing, not with hope, but with the quiet acknowledgment that something inside you is fighting to stay. This chapter is about recognizing the war you didn’t ask for, the one you’ve been surviving quietly for years.

Hi. I’m Sad. But I’m Trying.

Thank you for trying, too.