Some people start life with a map. Some start with a vehicle, while others start on a well-paved road. As for me... I am still busy figuring out where that road even is. I don’t have many tools. I don’t have much money. I don’t have many people to show me the way. In fact, some of my deepest wounds came from the very people who were supposed to protect me.
Sometimes, I feel envious. I’m envious of those who can learn with great laptops, who can go to college without worrying about the cost, and who have the kind of support I have never known. Because I know, if I had even half the opportunities they have, maybe I could run so much further. But life never gave me that choice. So, I am learning to accept the reality that I must walk with tired feet. Alone. Often in the dark. Often without knowing whether the direction I chose is right or wrong.
What keeps me going isn’t the certainty that I will succeed. Quite the opposite. I endure even when I am filled with doubt. I learn even when I fear it might all be for nothing. I build projects even when no one is waiting for the results. I try again, even after failing over and over. And maybe that is the only thing I truly own. It’s not talent. It’s not money. It’s not connections. It is simply the willingness to keep walking when stopping feels so much easier.
I don’t know if I will succeed one day. I don’t know if I will get into my dream university. I don’t know if I will ever work at a major tech company. I don’t know if all this struggle will ever pay off. All I know is this: if one day I finally reach the place I’ve always dreamed of, no one will ever be able to say I got there by taking the easy way out. Because most of this journey was built by a kid who didn't even have enough reasons to believe they could make it.