Always okay, never asked

 Since I was a kid, people expected so much from me like I was supposed to know how to do everything. Imagine being just 6 years old, going to school alone. No one to hold my hand, no one waiting for me after class. Since Grade 3, I was already figuring things out by myself. I still remember how I taught myself to solve math problems, how I learned to write essays, how I slowly understood English — all on my own.

No one sat down with me. No one explained things.
I just had to keep going. Because that’s what was expected of me.

And as I grew up, I kept coming home with achievements like medals, certificates, awards. They got used to it. They stopped asking how I did it. It just became “normal.” But what still stings is… we never celebrated. I graduated senior high school, and I didn’t even get a gift. Instead, it was my sibling who did. Maybe to others it sounds small, but to me, it wasn’t. Because all my life, I kept showing up, doing good, making them proud — quietly, without asking for anything in return.

They always thought I was okay.
But I was just a little girl, figuring everything out on her own.