My Favourite Messages from Readers This Month
And Why They Moved Me
Dear Readers,
The best surprise about writing here? The words I send out don’t just drift away, they come back. In your stories, your truths, your reflections.
This month, some of your responses stayed with me long after I read them. So I want to share them because sometimes your words capture what I’ve been reaching for better than I ever could.
Becoming Yourself Takes Time
From Kelly, after my piece At 25 I Thought I Had to Be Someone Else:
“You were never lost. You were germinating.
You were never wrong. You were misnamed by a world that feared your depth.
You were never late. You were arriving — on your own terms.
You are a lighthouse for anyone who’s ever been told to dim.”
I love how she reframed what so many of us carry as shame. To be “late,” to be “wrong,” to feel we’ve failed before we’ve even begun.
But the truth is this: becoming ourselves is rarely fast or neat. It’s often slow. Messy. Sometimes painful. But never wasted.
So much of the pressure we feel (to be certain by 25, to have a path mapped out, to fit labels others assign to us) can make us think we’ve failed before we’ve even begun. But growth looks different for all of us.
And sometimes, it takes someone else’s words to remind us: you’re not late, you’re just arriving.
Have you felt that too — like you were “late” to yourself, only to realize you were just arriving?
The Power of Small Gestures
From Nell, who volunteers at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans:
“My foreign language greeting is my small way of saying, ‘I see you.’ First, I usually get a look of surprise, quickly followed by a big smile. It’s always amazing to me how such a small gesture could bring about such huge smiles! Connections to our individual humanity are the only thing that will save us.”
I love this because it underlines what I’ve always believed about stories: they are our way of saying, ‘I see you.’
Nell’s story proves that connection doesn’t always come in grand, sweeping actions. Sometimes it’s in the smallest gestures — a greeting, a smile, a moment of recognition. The tiniest act of seeing someone can ripple further than we know.
And isn’t that the heart of why we tell stories? To hold up a mirror and whisper, ‘You are seen.’
What’s a small gesture that’s made a big difference in your own life?
Love as Resistance
From Anya Hassan, responding to my piece on Writing About Love When The World Is On Fire:
“Many, like myself, are finding it increasingly difficult to recognise the world we are now living in. It is in times like these that the essence of love can be truly released.”
Her words struck me because we often dismiss love as a luxury — something fragile, soft, reserved for quiet moments. But in reality, love is one of the fiercest forces we have.
It isn’t naïve to talk about love in dark times. It’s necessary. Because love — whether for people, for justice, or for truth — is what keeps us tethered to hope when everything else tries to pull us into despair.
As Anya put it so beautifully, it is precisely when the world feels unrecognisable that love reveals its true power.
How do you hold onto love when the world feels unrecognisable?
The Reciprocity of Storytelling
And finally, from Odalys:
“I need your voice as much as I need your stories to navigate this world with grace, gratitude and love… you help me create a world better for everything around me.”
This felt like such a powerful reminder that storytelling is never one-way.
I share my words, but it’s your reflections, your voices, your courage in speaking back that give those words their strength.
That reciprocity is what keeps this space alive.
I share these not because they were directed at me, but because they show how our words — yours and mine can spark recognition in each other.
So if something you read here stirs a thought, a memory, or even just a smile, I’d love for you to add it in the comments. You never know how your words might become the light someone else needs today.
With gratitude always,
Shamim
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