April 11th, 2026
The morning moon, truly a time for no one to bother you, but no one to comfort too. My best friends had just left me, my crush stopped talking to me, my parents had given up on trying to change me, and it was all… my… fault. The silent battles become deadlier, and at 15, I sat in my bedroom looking up at the moon, contemplating suicide. I was at death’s doorstep ready to take the final mental leap away from my problems, but then I heard my parents whisper to me, “Ethan, eat healthier, work harder, be better.” But when I turned around, my parents weren’t there, they had stopped yelling at me months ago. But their voice was still there, in my head, the last strand of hope that I desperately held onto against what the world kept telling me to do. It was another door that appeared in front of me telling me that I didn’t want to die, that deep down inside me I wanted to find a reason to live.
After that night, I deleted all my video games, went outside again, and for the next four years I got good grades, got into Purdue, applied for jobs, networked with people, and worked hard until… I got an internship at LinkedIn. But my work is not done, because there are still people out there, who are just like me, in their own bedrooms, looking up toward the morning moon, contemplating the big questions in life.
Life in all its suffering, but also life in all its triumphs. I want to be a light in the dark, show them a way through these difficult changing times, to prove and help others realize that life is beautiful as long as we are willing to believe in the power of the mind, the creativity of the individual, and the indomitable human spirit we all possess.
That night under the morning moon, clutched between the comfortable hands of death, it was a stroke of luck that I had the right role models in my mind to conjure the indomitable human spirit within me and keep fighting for a reason to live. And ever since, I have seen the world more differently, and more deeply. Every day I follow my heart, and then run like hell to make my dreams a reality. Every day I learn by doing, but I still read books when I’m curious about something. Every day I work on SoulStack to be able to help others encounter the same wisdom and guidance I was so lucky to be born into. Every day I strive to be worthy of the second chance I was given.