LALATOWN LIFE

Today, I held the doorknob to the place that leads to LALATOWN.

I haven’t stepped outside yet, but I opened the door.

I booked the flight.

I chose where I’ll stay.

It may seem like a small movement, but this is a real beginning.

I haven’t arrived yet.

I haven’t fully left either.

But one thing is certain—I am no longer standing where I was yesterday.

Before I held this doorknob and opened this door,

everything existed only in my mind.

It was just imagination,

something I used to survive.

But today,

I breathed life into that imagination.

I physically reached for the handle

and opened the door.

I haven’t taken a single step forward yet,

but it feels strangely quiet—

and because of that, more real.

Some people might say this is nothing.

But I know.

I know how long it took

to open this one door.

How much patience, injustice, and sacrifice

it required.

No matter what anyone says,

there is something only I can know.

That’s why I wanted to write this down.

Someday, somewhere,

if someone finds themselves where I once was,

I hope this gives them courage.

If I could do this,

so can you.

And this message will continue.

—

Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling uneasy.

Why?

Because in my dream,

I was still living in my old life.

The fear came back—

the tension,

the feeling that something could go wrong at any moment.

I had lived like that for so long,

as if it were simply my fate.

But when I opened my eyes,

I came back to myself.

No.

No.

I don’t have to live like that anymore.

And just like that,

I could breathe again.

So I got dressed in a way that felt like me,

stepped outside,

and handled the things I needed to take care of.

I haven’t taken my first step yet.

But I already know this:

I am already living

a LALATOWN kind of life.