Why Am I Not Like Them ?
.I don’t remember exactly when it all began
When I started watching the people around me as if they belonged to a different world
Everything about them feels alive—
Their laughter, their endless plans, their ease of conversation, their passion for life, their desire to go, to do, to truly live.
And me? I was there... but I wasn’t really present.
I don’t know when this comparison started growing inside me.
Was it a seed planted by the past within my breaths, or voices around me I couldn’t shake off?
In every family, you always find those voices that never stop measuring, comparing, judging.
Some proudly elevate their children like the finest blossoms,
But many don’t tire of breaking their children’s dreams with unfair standards,
Standards that plant a painful contradiction in the heart:
"Why aren’t you like so-and-so?"
"Why are you like this? Look at your cousin—what has he done? Where has he reached? And you’re still here!"
These words, sometimes cold as stones, sometimes spoken with anger or disdain,
Penetrated my ears and echoed in my mind and soul,
Until the voice no longer came only from outside,
But began to rise from within me, from deep inside, from my very self:
"Why am I not like them? What is wrong with me? Am I not enough?"
I often asked myself: Why am I not like them?
Why do their voices fill the room, while mine gets stuck in my chest?
Why do I smile with them, only to return to my silence, feeling emptier than before?
Why is there something inside me resisting every time I try to act like them?
It’s like wearing a tight mask.
The more I force myself to smile through it, the more it suffocates me.
I don’t hate them…
If anything, I envy them…
Their ability to adapt, to blend in, to live without constant questioning of their existence.
Yet, I still try.
I try to look okay, to match their energy.
But every attempt drains something from me, as if I leave parts of myself behind just to keep up.
And in the end, I walk away feeling like I lost a battle—
Not with them, but with myself.
And maybe, for the first time, I’m beginning to accept the truth:
I am not like them…
And maybe, I don’t have to be.
Perhaps, being different is not a flaw, but a quiet kind of pain that teaches us something deeper.
And maybe, being yourself is the greatest courage you can offer this world
.Even if no one understands
by Anna Alkati ✒️🖤

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