"I'm Fine." (I'm Not.)

Because You Don't Want to Worry Them Back Home.

"How are you, beta?"
"All good here!" you lie.

Because what are you supposed to say?

"Mom, I cried in the shower again."
"Dad, I got rejected from another job."
"Uncle, I can’t sleep from stress."

No.
You smile.
You send selfies.
You make small talk about the weather.

You protect them from your sadness
because you know,
one sleepless night for you would mean ten sleepless nights for them.

You carry their hope like a fragile glass in your chest.
One crack, and it shatters.

So you learn the art of pretending.
You become a performer.
You wear your pain like a hidden tattoo, invisible to everyone except you.

---

Love sometimes looks like hiding your scars.
But healing comes from honesty.

You don’t always have to be “fine.”
You’re allowed to say,

"Today was hard."
“I miss home.”
"I'm tired."
"I miss you."

Let the people who love you carry some of your weight, too.

Because even across oceans,
love travels faster than pain.

- Akshet Patel