Findingyourself Stories

Cassidy Faith always felt like the invisible sister. No matter how hard she worked, her mother only had eyes for Dianne. The golden child who could do no wrong. Even when Cassidy racked up honors at school, it barely registered. Dianne got all the celebrations. Cassidy learned to keep her head down and her feelings locked away, just aiming to finish high school near the top of her class. Then Dianne heads off to her dream university, and suddenly Cassidy turns the tables. She drops the news: she's earned a scholarship to study abroad. It stuns her family. As she gets ready to leave the Philippines, she pours her hurt into painting, using it to build a shield around her heart. But once she lands overseas, things don't stay simple. The new place, the new faces, they push her out of her comfort zone. Cassidy has to decide: does she keep everyone at arm's length, or finally let people in? And somewhere in the middle of all that, there's the question of her family. Can she patch things up, or is it time to stop looking back and start living for herself?

Rakshita stopped believing in love the day life broke her partial hearing loss, heartbreak, and scars that made her hide behind her walls. She rebuilt herself with fire, turning pain into passion, certain that love wasn't for her. Until he appeared. To the world, he's calm, distant, almost unreadable. A man no one truly knows. But with her? He's soft, protective, and a little possessive, the kind of love she never thought existed. He knows her scars, her silence, her strength, and without asking, he's ready to do anything to make her his. Sometimes, love arrives unexpectedly and stays forever. It is a story of healing, self-improvement, slow-burn romance, and a love that waited silently for years.

What is life's purpose? What is anything's purpose? You could never really tell. After being born?... Yeah, born into the world for the sole reason of being a weapon it was hard to find your "purpose"... And I don't think you ever will find your "purpose". Life doesn't have to have a big goal to achieve, it's all about living in the moment and enjoying everything that gets thrown at you. at least... That's what you think.

David learned early that life doesn't always make sense. After losing his mother at just five years old, his world slowly fell apart his father lost himself to addiction, his home became a place of fear, and he and his siblings were taken into foster care. Now seventeen, David trusts no one but his younger brother and fragile little sister. He has shut the world out and with it, any belief in God. To him, faith is nothing more than an illusion that never saved anyone. Lydia has spent her whole life trying to believe the opposite. Raised in a Christian home, she clings to her faith, even as it begins to crack. After the loss of her father and the changes in her family, Lydia finds herself questioning everything she once held as truth. Behind her kind and devoted image lies a girl filled with doubt, jealousy, and the fear that she may never be "good enough." When David arrives at her school, their worlds collide. Chosen to guide him through his first days, Lydia quickly becomes the person he challenges the most. Their conversations turn into clashes faith against doubt, hope against pain. David questions how a loving God could allow suffering, while Lydia struggles to answer without losing herself completely. As their bond slowly deepens, both are forced to confront the broken parts within them. Through loss, anger, and hidden wounds, they begin a journey not just toward faith, but toward healing. Together, they start to discover that grace is not about perfection, and love is not about having all the answers.

Poems reflecting the life of a late diagnosed AuDHDer with cPTSD from a childhood of trauma, neglect, and parentification. For CJ, Aubrey, and Rory; everything I do, I do for you. Thank you to all those who helped me over the years. Absolutly no thanks to the abusive mother who refused to acknowledge any wrongdoings.

Essa is the daughter of a maid who works for an incredibly wealthy family. Bobby is the privileged son who has always looked down on her. But when Bobby returns home for the summer, he realizes that both of them have changed and nothing between them is quite the same anymore. Copyright © 2026 by Keisha Maheswari

Harmony thought he had everything under control-her grade, her image, her promise to never let skating ruin her life again. But when rumors spread through her elite international school and her parents make a life-altering decision without her, Harmony is forced to leave everything behind and move to Canada-the same place her estranged father lives... and the same place her former Best friend and skating prodigy, Angelite, is chasing her dreams. With only ten days to say goodbye, unresolved feeling and a past she tried to bury resurfacing, Harmony Must decide: Will she keep running away from the ice... or finally step back into the light? Some choices break you. Others make you SHINE!

These essays are my way of asking - and maybe answering - the question I keep circling: tell me who I am. Moments from my life, thoughts I've pinned like notes to remember, and quiet reflections on what makes us who we are. I write to understand myself - and maybe, in these small stories, you'll see parts of yourself too. If you do, I'd love for you to come along on the journey

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞... 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 <3 <3 <3

She didn't lose him. She left before she believed she could be loved...and convinced herself he didn't fight for her. He stayed. She didn't know. And somewhere between silence, missed chances, and everything left unsaid....they both almost lost something real. This isn't a love story about falling. It's about breaking, healing.... and choosing each other anyway.

She hated him. He made sure of that. Not by accident. Not by mistake. On purpose. They grew up on the same street. Same bus. Same life-until one moment changed everything.

They say the world is the same for everyone. But for them... it never was. Living in a world that feels too loud, too bright, too overwhelming, they've both learned to survive in silence-misunderstood, judged, and forced to fit into something they were never meant to be. Back to back, yet closer than anyone realises, their lives begin to intertwine in ways neither of them expected. Because sometimes... the people who see the world differently are the only ones who truly understand each other. And maybe-just maybe-being different was never the problem. Different, Not Less ~ A story of seeing the world differently. A powerful and heartfelt story about individuals with autism, navigating a world that wasn't built with them in mind-yet still longing to be seen, understood, and accepted for who they truly are. In a world that feels too loud, too fast, and too overwhelming, they are constantly misunderstood. This is a story about living with autism-about the quiet battles, the unseen struggles, and the deep, unspoken desire to be understood in a place that was never designed for minds like theirs.

Since she is a little girl, she dreams of getting away. The town is a whole trauma experience and her school years weren't the best. The only reasons why she stayed?-she didn't have the money or the strength to just leave. But now she is free- and this time she will not look back. A romance-getaway story

Aisha Hersi is many things. And luckily for her, happyily unwed is one of them. Aisha, a Somali American college student, has finally landed an internship at her dream marketing company, Francis. With everything in her, she has been plotting to snatch a permanent position at Francis before graduation. Unluckily for Aisha, things take a turn for the worse before she can do so. Her mother was demanding for her to get married. There was no chance that Aisha was going to uproot her plan for a man, especially when she was finally achieving the one thing she's longed for most: a position at the top Marketing & Architecture firm in Seattle. Aisha has hoped to live her life in the way she's planned to since high school: staying single and getting her dream job. Perhaps, with a cat or two and a cabinet full of chunky grandma mugs. But her mother was not willing to let Aisha put it off any longer. She was given an ultimatum. Aisha Hersi must marry by the end of the year or she was not allowed to work at Francis. Along with a relentless blue-eyed coworker, who was determined to prove his feelings for Aisha to the world and the perfect muslim man her mother was determined to set her up with, Aisha is all but over ever finding love. But if this was her biggest obstacle in life, she was bound to overcome it. She had one year to find a way to keep her job. And hell, she was going to do anything to achieve it.

Eklavya Rajvansh : "Sometimes, the greatest tragedy isn't the loss we suffer, but the way we lose ourselves in the aftermath." Eklavya is what remains after everything meaningful is taken without warning. The loss of his family did not teach him strength-it stripped him of it. He is not searching for redemption. Only for a moment where the silence inside him finally breaks. __________ Ruhani : "You get used to things you never thought you would. Not because they stop hurting... but because you get tired of reacting to the same pain every single day." There is something unfinished about Ruhani, as if life paused midway and never resumed. Known for her beauty and sharp presence, she exists in a world that takes more than it gives. Her eyes speak of things left unsaid, her voice hides more than it offers. Strength defines her, not softness. Whatever she has lost, she has buried deep enough to keep moving. ___________ Eklavya was raised to believe some places should never be entered, some lines never crossed. Yet grief has a way of erasing instruction. In a brothel where everything has a price, he finds the one thing he cannot afford-Ruhani, a woman who does not believe in anything that lasts. In a place where everything ends the moment it begins, they start to linger. A question forms where certainty once lived: can something real exist in a world built on pretense? Or is this-whatever this is-just another illusion they're both too tired to resist? What draws a man to the very thing he was taught to resist? What keeps him there, long after the reason has dissolved? Dive in this heart wrenching yet heartwarming tale to know!

She was once the kind of girl who laughed without fear and loved without limits. Her world was bright, her heart was light, and happiness came easily to her. But life has a way of teaching lessons we never ask for. Through choices she didn't fully understand and mistakes she never want to make, but she made it and her sunshine slowly faded into silence. She broke. She doubted herself. She questioned who she was becoming.

A true story of identity, survival, love, and becoming. Roots of Fire follows my life from childhood to fatherhood, through trauma, truth, and transformation - a journey of losing everything, rebuilding myself, and learning who I really am.

Aadhya did everything right-studied, tried, waited. But two years later, she's still stuck. Not because she has no choices... But because every choice feels too heavy to make. While everyone else moves forward, she's left questioning herself, her path, and her pace. This isn't a story about having it all figured out. It's about feeling lost, overthinking everything... and learning to move forward anyway. Sometimes, you're not behind. You're just still becoming.

At twenty-three, Chasity Jacobs returns home thinking she's ready for her next chapter-but instead, she finds herself face-to-face with her past. Nicholas Carter was her almost-love. The one who got away without ever knowing he was hers to lose. But when he comes back into her life with a beautiful, kind girlfriend by his side, Chasity is forced to confront feelings she thought she'd outgrown. Caught between who she used to be and who she's becoming, Chasity must navigate heartbreak, healing, and the possibility that some loves aren't meant to be-no matter how deeply they're felt.

When she left, she said, "Consider me dead." She thought it would make it easier for me to forget, that she was guiding me in her own way. She said my pain would lessen, that she was thinking of me. But everything she said felt like calling an ambulance after pulling the trigger. I thought about this for a long time. Considering someone dead doesn't ease the pain. It certainly doesn't stop you from missing them. On the contrary, it traps you in a helpless longing. So why had she said it?