Last night, I was watching a Korean drama called Beyond the Bar when a line caught me off guard: “You’ll never know how strong the tea bag is until you put it in hot water.” It sounded so simple, almost too ordinary. But for some reason, it stayed with me. Maybe because, in my own quiet way, I feel like I’ve been living that line. Hot water. Life has given me plenty of it—moments I didn’t ask for, challenges that felt too heavy, days when I wondered if I had the strength to keep going. And in those moments, I thought I would break. I thought the heat would destroy me. But somehow, something else happened. I began to discover pieces of myself I never noticed before. A kind of courage that only shows up when I’m scared. A patience I never knew I had. A resilience that whispers, “You can still stand, even when it hurts.” It reminds me of the tea bag. You can’t really tell what’s inside just by looking at it. But when the boiling water touches it, its flavor seeps out—slowly, q...
(My life's journey and more)