I learned to hide it. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t understand what. I was taught that problems are kept to yourself, that you don’t share them. So I did what I knew best, stay quiet, pretend, disappear little by little. I pulled away from friends and family without anyone noticing the cracks growing inside me.

It wasn’t just sadness. It was being completely broken, empty, consumed by a depression that made me invisible. And the worse it got, the harder I worked to hide it. It’s easy to drift away when no one suspects a thing. But the truth is, no matter how much it feels like it, solitude doesn’t protect you. It just pulls you in deeper.