TLDR: I grew up thinking something was wrong with me because I cared too deeply … for people, animals, and the ones no one else noticed.
It took me years to realize that empathy isn’t weakness; it’s strength that needs boundaries.

Healing didn’t come from understanding my pain, but from feeling it: grief, fear, and all. By reconnecting with what I loved as a child … movement, writing, nature, music … I began to find myself again.

Grief turned into gratitude, fear into faith, and kindness became my compass.

Peace isn’t the absence of pain … it’s the presence of meaning.


My father once told me that I have always been a little different.
I would be a happy little puppy, laughing a lot and being the most compassionate little girl.

He said even at the age of 4 … whenever there was a child in preschool who was new, looked different, or others didn’t want to play with …
I would go to that child and make them feel welcome.

When we got a pet, I was allowed to choose one out of four siblings.
Of course, I took the ugliest one. Everyone tried hard to convince me to chos another one, but I refused and insisted I wanted this one.
When they asked me why … I said because if I don’t take him, nobody else will, and then he will be sad. So I took him home with me.
He stayed with me for 12 years until he died. And I loved this pet so much, no other one later could replace him.

I always thought something was wrong with me because I’m like this.
I saw people around me not caring about what I cared about or who I cared about. I didn’t understand why they didn’t understand.
I didn’t understand why they would prioritize other things over humanity.

I still don’t, by the way, but I learned to deal with it … kind of.
I like the way I am. But I had to learn it. I had to learn that my empathy and deep care are strengths. And I also learned that I had to set boundaries to protect them.

Often kids come to me and say, “You are so nice.” I tell them
I’m not nice. I’m kind. There is a difference.

I don’t want to teach any child to be nice.
Nice is when you want to please people and you don’t want to hurt anyone, so you avoid heavy topics and … oftentimes the truth which would be so much more helpful! Comfort over peace …

I’m not nice. I’m kind.
Kindness is … I care about you so much that I will call you out on the things you could do better. Because I want to see you strong, and I want to see you go far. I believe in you before you even believe in yourself. And I know you can, when you would just see it in yourself.

And I’m here to make you see.
The areas you still have to work on … in safety … because I’m not going anywhere while you are doing that. Show me all your messy places … I’ll be here.

I almost lost my job last week because I stayed for a girl in a messy place when I was not supposed to, officially. I went against the rules … but your life is more important to me.
I got a warning … I said okay, but I also know inside I would do it again, because it was worth it, so …

People do everything … even a lifetime of therapy … and never heal. Why?

Because knowing the cause of the pain is not the solution.
It’s feeling the feelings that will bring the release. Feel your fear and face it. Feel your grief and face it. Feel your insecurities and face them.

If you are neurodivergent or have been through trauma and need to heal …
I took a step back from the world and looked at myself as a child. What were the things that made me truly happy? Not what people expected me to be happy with. What was I passionate about? What did I let go of over time that I shouldn’t have?

And little by little … I re-integrated what I have always loved, but lost growing up.
I started sports again. As a child, I was always fascinated by sports, especially martial arts. I would exercise every day. But I stopped doing it completely.

My father told me that when I was little and they were looking for me in the house, I would always be at my desk writing or drawing. But most of the time, I would be outside … in nature, discovering things, curious about life.

So now I gave myself permission again … karate, boxing, strength training. I sing and dance at home … and I write … a lot. I go to the beach and breathe the air … nature …

The healing came once I let myself feel everything. A lot of tears, a lot of anger, frustration, the injustice … the grief of lost time, the grief of many other things, fear … of so many things.
And it’s true. Once you allow yourself to feel all this, knowing you are safe, that’s where the healing comes. Fear loses its power.
I learned to love and respect myself again. And I became the version I wish I had had as a child.

Grief and fear transform into compassion … for yourself first.
You start to see the child you once were, still inside you, waiting to be heard.
You begin to realize that all the “too much” and “too sensitive” parts of you were never flaws … they were the roots of your gift that today change the lives of others around you.

Grief turns into gratitude.
Because you understand that even the pain shaped your depth. The bigger the pain, the stronger I got out of it … and the kinder I became, never closing the door of my heart, because now I understood better.
I was humbled.

Fear turns into faith … not blind faith, but trust in your own ability to walk through the storms and still stay kind.
Fear gets replaced by the knowledge that no matter how hard the storm I have the self confidence to know that I will get through it.
Because so far I made it out of storms 100% alive and better.

And that’s when peace comes. Peace of mind and soul.
Not the absence of pain, but the presence of meaning.