Smiling Through the Silence

My life has always felt ordinary— a quiet rhythm of joy and sorrow, as natural as the changing sky. I tell myself I’m fine, because when I glimpse the stories of others, my own burdens seem lighter. I have no great struggles, or maybe I’ve simply grown used to them, numb to the weight I no longer name. I am not afraid to be happy, perhaps because worry waits beside it, a shadow that tightens around me—slowly, silently.