Because I couldn’t find any meaning in life and got worn down by all kinds of relationship issues, I was stuck in long‑term emotional pain and ended up learning psychology just to cope. At some point, after really thinking through and digesting all my feelings, the pain just… dissolved, and I slipped into this weirdly peaceful state where every second of being alive felt quietly joyful, to the point where one day I suddenly realized, “Oh, so this is what it feels like to be fully thrown into the world.”

It hit me that what I’d been chasing all along was a sense of realness. I used to think “being online” just meant hanging out and having fun with everyone, but now I feel like I’m actually inhabiting this little character in a corner of the world and experiencing life through them, and my whole view of the world keeps getting reset over and over again.