"you handled it so well." no, i didn't. i lost my spark. i cried in silence. i isolated myself from everyone. i stopped talking, stopped smiling, and kept everything to myself. i looked okay on the outside, but deep down, i was falling apart in ways no one could see. i kept showing up while carrying pain i never spoke about. i laughed when i had to, stayed quiet when i wanted to scream, and acted like i was fine just to make things easier for everyone else. i survived it, yes, but please don't call that handling it well. i was just trying my best not to break.