Can we talk about something that does not get said enough?
Nobody sees the full story. Not really.
They see you win and they immediately start writing their own version of how it happened. They fill in the blanks with words like lucky, gifted, blessed, in the right place at the right time. It is almost like they need it to be effortless because if it was not effortless then they have to ask themselves why they are not putting in the same effort.
But you know what actually happened.
You know about the nights that stretched so far past midnight that they started bleeding into mornings. The nights where you were not even sure what you were working toward anymore but you kept going anyway because stopping felt worse than the exhaustion. You know about the things you gave up. The plans you cancelled. The relationships you had to put on hold. The version of yourself that had to shrink temporarily so that a bigger version could grow.
You know about the moments you sat alone with your doubts and had to talk yourself back into believing this was all worth it.
