So I’ve been thinking— What if I didn’t just stuff my words into a pretty package that is as sweet to digest as what the world is accustomed to from me? I write draft after draft, leaving my truest thoughts hanging on a page that will never be seen. The authors I admire vulnerably lay truth at our feet, often clearing a path that allows many of us to feel less alone, less invisible, and far more connected. It’s not that life is bad, that I’m not ok, or that my positive personality is a facade. Life is beautiful. I’m beyond blessed. I find hope and positivity to be my default modes. But the unfiltered truth remains: My smile and enthusiastic demeanor are at times a mask because—like every single one of you—I’m human. Friends, we are human. Life can build us up and break us down all in the same moment. It can bring us to our knees in excruciating pain or lift us off our feet in pure joy. It’s messy and beautiful and difficult and awe-inducing. To act otherwise is ...