I am a daughter of immigrants,
raised to be grateful for what I had.
So when I started struggling,
I felt guilty for even being sad.
My parents came here with a dream,
and worked for everything we knew.
They gave me food, a home, a future,
things they never had growing up too.
So how could I tell them I was depressed?
How could I say I wasn’t okay?
When their answer was always,
“You have everything, what more can we say?”
Sometimes they called me lazy,
and honestly, I got angry too.
I’d yell, shut down, stay in my room,
because I didn’t know what else to do.
They compared me to my siblings,
and I always wondered why
everything looked so easy for them,
while I was barely getting by.
But then I would feel guilty,
because I knew what my parents gave.
They came here to give me a better life,
and all I wanted was to feel okay.
That’s something I’ve learned
being an immigrant’s child.
You can be thankful for your life
and still be hurting inside.
As I got older, I understood them more.
They loved me the way they knew.
“Did you eat?”
“Come home safe.”
“Focus on school too.”
We didn’t always understand each other,
and sometimes we still don’t today.
But I’m learning I can love where I come from
without losing myself along the way.
I’m still their daughter,
still figuring out who I want to be.
They came here hoping I’d have a better life,
and I’m finally learning
that life can still belong to me.
Kids Help Phone (KHP) is honoured to share creative content submitted by youth from coast to coast to coast as they Feel Out Loud with us. We thank the Feel Out Loud Community Creator of this piece for their contribution to youth mental health and well-being in Canada. For more information on the Feel Out Loud Community Creator Space and / or how you can submit your own creative content for possible publication, you can visit the submission page.
