This book is basically me trying to make sense of a life that never really came with instructions. I didn't grow up with a clear map for any of it-family, identity, love, work, or even just figuring out who I was supposed to be in different rooms. So, I did what most people do when they don't know what they're doing: I figured it out by living it, badly at times, honestly most of the time, and one experience at a time.

In these pages, I talk about all of that. The parts I understood in the moment, the parts that only make sense looking back, and the parts I'm still not fully sure about. It's about growing up in a way that wasn't straightforward, learning how to work, how to love people without losing yourself, how to set boundaries when that doesn't come naturally, and how to keep going even when you're not entirely convinced you're doing life "right."

I don't really have a neat lesson to hand you at the end of it. I think this is more of a "this is what it looked like for me" kind of story. If anything, I hope it makes someone else feel a little less behind in their own life, or a little less alone in the parts that still feel messy.

I'm still figuring things out. I probably always will be. But I've learned that doesn't disqualify you from having something worth saying.