The Unlikely Version of Myself in 5 Years: by Hanaa Haleem

 The Unlikely Version of Myself in 5 Years:

by Hanaa Haleem

Everything has been shared, there is nothing more to announce. It’s all out there, so there is no reason to guard things privately, if they are already known. How has this occurred? Well, it turns out you weren’t as central to your values as you thought you were, especially your main one of having certain things remain gatekept. Five years have passed, and it looks like your fear has gone. You completely forgot the outcome of oversharing, even though you emphasized on having a private life and fear of the evil eye. Looks like you are a bit too confident about nothing bad happening…

Ugh, it's all gone— my luxuries, my strengths, and the lifestyle I promised myself  your thoughts speak at 3am. It’s been way past college, and you are struggling to be employed again, but that’s not even the part worth mentioning. You always relied on external validation through all of it, and now wonder why you lost everything you worked for. And you were gullible enough to think those were your real friends, when they are  a main culprit within this downfall you're experiencing. How could you not forget about 9th grade, when all you did was share your every more, every win, and every struggle, thinking your peers would support you through all of it, until you suddenly lost everything you had…Looks like you were desperate enough to mention your steps to success, your 2030 resolutions, and the ticket to Indonesia that should’ve been slid inside your passport, but have been non-existent. 

This is the high school sophomore Hanaa Haleem (me) speaking from the past, to the unlikely version of herself formed in five years. It looks like the person I spoke through in this entire piece of art has neglected each value, moral, and mindset she committed to since 2026. The one mindset that I’ve carried with me from 2025 is working in silence without giving hints about it, meaning that it would be unlikely for my future self to crave external validation and flexing all my achievements instead of respecting the privacy behind them. In order for this to occur, I would have fallen into the trap of only feeling successful when it’s visible to others, since I am not confident enough with my goals, inducing the need to share them publicly.