I passed by the mirror. Suddenly, I saw someone in it. Out of fear and anxiety, I wanted to walk away, but a voice inside me shouted, “Look. Who is she?”

I stared at the mirror.

She looked so much like me. From her eyes, I could read the exhaustion of all these years, yet her lips were strangely smiling. Her hair was cut short at the roots. Thick eyebrows above her eyes only enhanced her beauty. I kept looking at her.

Yes. She was me.

Me?

Who am I?

I asked myself, but I heard no answer. Or maybe I did not want to hear it. Still, I knew this: this is not who I used to be. I was not always this sad.

Or was I?

I wanted to ignore the question, but my mind was already tangled in it.

A voice from deep within me, one I had silenced for years, screamed: “Do not let a beautiful future turn into regret, because in the future no one will carry your regrets for you.”

Regret.

That word sparked something inside me. And suddenly, I understood who I really am.

Yes. I understood.

I am me—sad but hopeful. Not hopeful for circumstances, not hopeful for myself, not hopeful even for the person I saw in the mirror.

I came back to myself. I was still in front of the mirror, but this time I returned with hope. I saw myself there—beautiful, unbreakable.

The mystery was solved. And only then did I truly understand who I am.

And now I ask you, the one reading this: Who are you?

If you know, that is wonderful. And if you do not, then go and discover yourself.

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