I HELD ON

In the honour of September suicide prevention month💜;

I Held On is not a story about having a perfect childhood.

It's about growing up before you were ready.

About being surrounded by family and still feeling alone. About learning independence before you even understood what childhood was supposed to feel like. About carrying experiences no child should ever have to carry, and growing into someone who learned to understand everyone else's pain before she learned how to acknowledge her own.

It's about trauma, self-harm, substance use, dysfunctional family dynamics, friendships that meant everything, relationships that weren't meant to last, and the complicated reality of loving people deeply while learning when to let them go.

It's about being everyone's listener, everyone's safe place, everyone's backup friend-while secretly wishing someone would simply see you and show up for you.

But more than anything, it's about healing.

About therapy.

About learning boundaries.

About learning that being understanding doesn't mean accepting everything.

About learning that independence doesn't mean doing everything alone.

About loving deeply without losing yourself.

And about the girl who could have become trapped inside the worst years of her life-

but held on.

This isn't a story about who hurt me anymore.

It's about who I'm becoming.