My Cup of Tea

Owner: Tosin Adewale

Born into Burden, still breathing

Born into Burden,

I was born into a storm I didn’t summon,
The first of five, carrying dreams I never dreamed—
A child with grown-up weight on trembling shoulders,
Learning early that survival isn’t the same as living.

Life didn’t ask me what I wanted.
It handed me duty before I knew freedom,
Guilt before I knew joy,
And silence—deep, choking silence—before I learned to cry out.

I wonder if I ever stood a chance.
The world keeps spinning, cruel and indifferent,
While I empty myself to fill everyone else—
My father’s failing hands, my siblings’ bright, hungry eyes,
The bills, the shame, the whispers of "not enough."

I quit jobs not because I was weak,
But because the weight inside my chest
Was heavier than the weight of the world outside.
And still, I rise.
Not like a hero—just like someone who has no choice but to keep going.

Some days, I envy those who can fall apart.
I don’t have the luxury.
But today, I let myself feel—
The anger, the sorrow, the unfairness, the fatigue.

And maybe in this honesty,
There is a beginning.
A crack in the dam.
A tiny light that says:
I am tired, but I am here.
I am broken, but I am real.
I am drowning, but I still breathe.
And maybe—just maybe—that means I still stand a chance. SUPPORT THIS

Owner: Tosin Adewale

Do I Even Stand a Chance?

I carry the sky on shoulders still soft,
Worn by years that never asked if I was ready.
Born to a love that meant well but broke me,
First of five, but first to bleed silently.

They say, be strong—but how do you lift
When you were handed a world that keeps falling apart?
When love meant sacrifice, not warmth?
When the hands that raised you tremble with illness
And still reach for help you cannot afford to give?

I count my guilt like currency,
Paying for a life I never chose,
Ashamed of the dreams I buried quietly,
While smiling so no one would ask.

I quit a job that crushed my spirit,
And no one stopped to say you mattered there.
And still—I wake.
Still, I try.
Still, I bleed hope into another tired morning.

I don’t want to die,
But I don’t quite know how to live.
The world sees only what I fail to do—
Not what it takes just to exist.

Do I even stand a chance?

Maybe not today.
But maybe tomorrow, I’ll make it through again.
And maybe, just maybe,
That will be enough—for now.

Owner: Tosin Adewale

Just Maybe

I wake up with a heart that feels like stone
The weight of the world sitting on my chest
But still, I rise today not because I feel strong,
But because I want to live

There’s a sadness I carry like shield
But in the quiet, even with the many voices in my head,
I hear silent whispers of hope,
The wishfulness of a better tomorrow

And I wonder if maybe, just maybe,
That tomorrow will ever be here.
One where my heart is in full bloom
Ready to embrace the goodness of the universe.

But just maybe, maybe I will never know.
But I cling to hope
For I want more.

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Janet's reflection

It's a torture to ask for my reflection on this. My lower jaw vibrates back and forth, look, i'm drenched in tears. I'm overwhelmed with sadness in my heart. All I want to say is "Girl, escape anyhow you can !"

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