Laya Mosto

There's no way it's that bad.

You didn't lose a friend.

You didn't lose your family.

You didn't lose your home.

Like, you're okay.

Like, you seem fine.

Because I had to be fine.

Yeah.

But I always felt like I had to present a version to people that, like, wasn't too scary or wasn't too, like, sad or wasn't too rough.

And I think I still find myself doing that, like, to this day.

How have you shed that?

I think I'm still shedding it.

But I think I'm learning that like not to shrink anymore for other people's comfort.

And that if I show up authentically as I am when I talk about myself, when I talk about my story, and if people think that's too much or if they're not going to respond well to that, then you're just not the right person.

It can be very hurtful and painful to like lose people because people think, oh, you're too sad.

Or maybe, oh, this is a lot.

This is not what I signed up for or whatever.

But I think that I'm learning to just also honor people

The little girl that went through all of that.

Yeah.