Letter 24: What the Hell Did I Miss?
They said you’d have it figured out by now. But here you are—back at your parents’ place, staring at a dinner plate you didn’t cook, and a future you can’t taste.
Your friends are getting married. One’s got a kid. You scroll through their stories like a ghost— not jealous. Just confused.
"Did I fall behind?" Nah. You just landed in a different war zone. Not everyone fights visible battles.
Some of us are still learning how to sleep without guilt. How to wake without dread. How to keep showing up when the scoreboard never resets.
You didn’t miss shit. You’ve just been surviving quietly while everyone else posts highlights.
You’ve been enduring while the world told you to perform.
You’ve been holding the pieces together with tape, silence, and half-charged hope.
You didn’t miss the party. The party just ended early. And no one told you the drinks stopped flowing when rent started stacking and laughter came with overdraft fees.
School didn’t teach you this version of pain. Family didn’t prepare you for this flavor of lost.
But still— you breathe. You show up. You write letters no one sees.
And maybe that’s not the victory they post about... but it’s the only one that counts right now.
Signed, The You that refused to vanish.
#TheWillToSurvive #TheRejectedRise #LettersNeverSent