By: Stephanie DelRosario

Most people praise the finished glow,
The wins, the titles, the things we show.
But no one talks about the space
Where you are still finding your pace.

The nights are long, the house is still,
Yet somehow there is more uphill.
A laptop light, a tired mind,
A hundred thoughts all intertwined.

The kids asleep, the dishes done,
Another day that I outrun.
An assignment waiting on the screen,
While life sits heavy in between.

Between the bills and job searches,
Between the pressure and the hurt,
Between the fear of starting late
And trying hard to change my fate.

Because returning back to school
As an adult can test your fuel.
You question if you are enough,
If all this sacrifice is tough.

But still I show up every day,
Still find the strength to make a way.
Not always confident or strong,
But still refusing to stay gone.

I used to think that strength was loud,
The kind that stands above the crowd.
Now I believe real strength is this:
Continuing when life resists.

It is getting up and trying again,
Still carrying the weight within.
Still choosing growth when doubt runs deep,
Still planting dreams I plan to keep.

And maybe I am not behind.
Maybe growth just takes its time.
Maybe this version of me now
Is teaching me the why and how.

How to rebuild without pretending.
How to heal while still ascending.
How to become, through every test,
The woman hidden in my chest.

So if today feels hard to see,
If life feels heavy constantly,
Just know some victories arrive
Each time you simply still survive.

Because there is beauty we do not see
In unfinished possibilities.
And maybe strength will always be
The space between who we become
And who we are fighting still to be.