I Am Not Who Everyone Sees…
“Seeing a person is one thing; feeling their soul is another…”
Sometimes, people think we are happy because we smile, indifferent because we remain silent, and strong because we endure everything. They see how we are today, but they know nothing about the sleepless nights, the thoughts that consume us, or the battles we have fought within ourselves to become who we are…
I, too, am not the person everyone thinks I am.
I have words I have never been able to say to anyone, conversations I have never found the courage to begin, and words I have repeated a thousand times in my mind, only to choose silence in the end. Sometimes, a simple sentence stays in my thoughts all day long. Sometimes, the things that matter deeply to me seem insignificant in the eyes of others. And in those moments, I realize that everyone measures the world through the lens of their own heart.
Sometimes, I wish I could live without overthinking everything, without taking every little thing so personally. But it seems that a person cannot escape their own nature. Once the heart feels something, no matter how hard the mind tries to forget it, certain feelings remain right where they are.
Do you know what the most interesting thing is?
People often know only the side of you that you choose to show them. They know your smile, but not the reason behind it. They notice your silence, but not the countless words hidden within it. They say you have changed, but they never ask about the days that changed you.
Perhaps that is why the greatest world a person possesses lies within them. A world filled with conversations no one has ever heard, memories no one has ever witnessed, and feelings no one has ever truly understood.
I no longer expect everyone to understand me. Because every heart has its own language, and every person carries a story of their own. There is only one thing I wish for: before judging someone, people would take even a moment to consider what that person might have been through.
After all, even the happiest-looking person may carry an unspoken sorrow, and even the quietest person may hold the grandest dreams.
And me…
I am not merely the smile you see, the words you hear, or the silence you observe. I am my mistakes from yesterday, my thoughts of today, my hopes for tomorrow, and the stories I have yet to share with anyone.
Because a person can be seen with the eyes, but to truly understand them, one must look with the heart. 
I am not who everyone sees. I am a whole universe that even I have not yet fully discovered…
Gulasal Jumayeva Gulasal Jumayeva was born on July 8, 2010. She is from Shofirkon district, Bukhara region, Uzbekistan. She is currently a 10th-grade student at Secondary School No. 30. She has big dreams, high ambitions, and a heart full of stories yet to be written, dreams waiting to come true, and words waiting to be spoken. 
