LISTEN TO ARTICLESynthesized Narration • 0:00 / 0:00

I have reached a point in my life where being in the spotlight hurts more than being in the dark. For shining is a constant battle that spins your head round and round until the only thing that’s left of you is the confusion of who you truly are. Yet, here I am on the tightrope. Spinning and shining endlessly. At least from up here, in my distant glow, my cracks are safe from the eyes below. Remaining concealed, hidden beneath the glisten. I am a thousand fragments held together. Each one is a memory, a wound, and a reflection of me that I have created. I’m a collage of moments stitched together. Each fragment is shaped by people I’ve met, things I’ve lost, and memories I try to forget. Among the countless pieces I’ve become, I struggle to find the one that's worth shining the brightest. Questions of who I truly am fog my mind. And the lingering thought asks: Out of all these pieces, do they know me fully? And out of all these pieces, who should I be? People often say that I've changed. But maybe I was figuring things out, constantly experimenting on the piece of me that deserves to catch the world’s light. Old friends don’t know who I am now, and new friends don’t know who I used to be. Neither knows the whole me, just a reflection of who I am. And maybe, I don't either. It feels strange, almost accidental, that nobody could ever grasp my entire being. All they know is that a part of me remains to shine through what is broken. Even when they call off the circus and burn the disco down, I’ll remain on this tightrope, trying everything to keep everyone looking at how my shattered pieces glisten. I remain a believer that one day, I’ll be found not through how I shine for the world but through the cracks that are the evidence of the person I’ve become. One day, the mirrorball will cease to turn, the lights will fade, and the glow will burn. The cracks will whisper what’s been true, and the real me will shine through.