Prompt: begin with phrase, “My story is…” If you get stuck, rewrite the last word you wrote over and over until you can continue. 700 words minimum.

My story can be described in three words: Live. Learn. Grow. For as long as I can remember, I have always dealt with some sort of anxiety in life. I tried to mask the feelings for as long as I could. To understand myself and what I was feeling, I saw an increased appetite to learn more about human psychology. I read book after book detailing different psychology topics and sought ways on how I could feel better. Nothing helped. At one point, it got so bad that I felt as if I was having an identity crisis. I lacked direction; I was spending way too much time thinking of regrets. It was just a really low and dark point in my life. However, I am at the most peace with myself at the moment. I have accepted that all the mistakes, all the hardships, all that happened before was just something that prepared me to be mentally stronger and more resilient to handle life better. I used to make decisions very haphazardly without much thought. The mental shift and growth since then has become very strong. I have a sense of clarity now in life that I didn't before. I am honestly, at this point, living my best life yet. A roadmap opens in front of me, like I can feel and see where I am headed, and a constant calming voice keeps telling me that everything is going to be okay. I also appreciate the peace Batu brought into my life. It is serenity at its best. It is sheer tranquility that wraps around me all the time. It is as if he can read my mind and finish my sentences for me, as if he was gifted with the knowledge of knowing how I am feeling just by the way my voice changes the slightest in its tones or through the intervals of silence between words and sentences. From this, I understand the importance of having a partner that truly cares about each other's well-being and pushes each other to pursue their dreams and grow. I now understand, having someone beside who elevates and enhances our living experience is so important and so crucial to living a full life. Someone who remains as the constant. Someone who reminds us of all the positive and good things life has to offer. I have never felt so much at ease before like I do now. As I write these, I take a moment to count the blessings I was given. Blessings that I have prayed for and got even more than I ever thought I would receive. Blessings in a human form. A piece of heaven in human form. On growth. If I were to think about growth, I know it is all coming from the lessons learned in life. I started living alone from a young age; it came with waves of both pros and cons. Pros being I learned to properly handle finances on my own, great time management skills, some really great cooking skills. I was also able to take risks such as go driving on difficult terrains which my family would probably have stopped me from doing. I was able to fully explore and express my adventurous self. Cons being, I often kept things to myself without opening up to my family about how I felt. If something bothered me or if something was not going well, I just held it deep inside, buried the thoughts, the feelings inside me until they were forgotten. The thing that I love about my life most now is the fact that I am completely myself. I feel okay. For the first time in forever. I am doing well in all my classes and on track to get straight As in all of them so far. I am being able to complete and submit all my assignments on time. I have developed a strong and consistent habit of tracking my behavior over time and journaling my feelings. After a long time, I am completely in love with a person who I can say is my twin flame, who really came at the most unexpected time to make me believe in all the fairytales of life again.