If you're going through a challenging period in life right now, I hope you give yourself permission to breathe, to rest and to not have everything figured out today. I hope you trust that no feeling lasts forever. The heaviness you carry now will soften. The confusion will * clear. And one day, you'll look back and realize that this season didn't break you. It built you. And I hope you begin to feel proud of yourself for holding onto hope, however fragile it feels. This chapter is hard but it's not the end of your story. It's the part that makes the rest of it meaningful. As the beautiful Japanese saying goes: "If you feel like you are losing everything, remember: trees lose their leaves every year, yet they still stand tall and wait for better days to come."