They say, "Your trauma made you stronger, and I stay quiet. Because that's not the truth. Trauma didn't build me it broke me. It stole pieces of my memory, filled me with feelings I never asked for, left me weak in ways no one sees. The strength they admire didn't come from the pain; it came from me. From surviving days I don't remember, and nights I still feel in my bones, from choosing to survive what was trying to erase me. Some mornings I wake up grieving a version of myself I can't fully recall. Trauma didn't make me strong. I did. I made myself strong, even while breaking.