May Reflection — We Did It!

This month, I did something I didn’t think I ever would. I stopped hiding. I stopped telling myself it wasn’t the right time. And I finally shared ʻUhane Hawaiʻi with the world.

Not for attention. Not to prove anything. But for the little girl I used to be — the one who stayed quiet, even when her spirit was loud.

I’ve been carrying her with me this whole time. Through school. Through anxiety. Through moving across the world. Through jobs and deadlines and depressive episodes and full plates. Through becoming someone she would’ve looked up to, even when I didn’t feel like I deserved it.

This month, I launched my first blog. My first podcast episode. I put my real voice into the world, without cleaning it up or making it more digestible. And I did it with her — my younger self — in mind. Because she deserved a space like this. And now I get to build it.

May was overwhelming. I won’t lie. I’m a full-time student and full-time employee living far from home. Most of my days are spent running on little sleep and too much pressure. But this — this platform, these words, this creation — gave me something else. It gave me permission to pause. To speak. To honor all the parts of me that were told to “be strong” instead of “be real.”

And if I’m being honest, I think I created ʻUhane Hawaiʻi so that I could finally speak to that younger version of me. The one who didn’t know how to explain what she was feeling. The one who thought being sensitive was something to fix. The one who just needed someone to say, “You don’t have to be okay to be worthy.”

May reminded me that I owe her softness. I owe her truth. I owe her a voice. And now, I’m giving her one.

Next month, I return home to Hawaiʻi. For a little while, I’ll get to breathe differently. I’ll get to write from the place that made me. And I know the next round of blog posts will come from a deeper place. Because they’ll come from reconnection.

But before that shift, I just want to say something I’ve waited a long time to say: I did it, Sissy Girl. We did it.

The little you — the soft, curious, creative one who used to stay quiet even when her heart was loud — you’re still here. You’re the reason I kept going. You’re the reason I came back to my voice.

This space, this writing, this beginning... it’s for you. Not because you needed fixing. But because you deserved to be heard.

I see you now. And I promise, I’m not hiding anymore.

With ʻUhane From Me to You

ʻUhane Hawaiʻi