The Gen Z Role Models Project

This story was submitted as part of the King’s Study Phase of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Added April 2026.

32 unread messages. Truc put down the phone, frustrated. How would she get through the next few days? Looking for answers, or maybe just distraction, she picked up the phone again and started scrolling through videos with the numb instinct of someone trying not to feel too much. One video caught her eye. A remarkable individual, speaking slowly, thoughtfully, about something religious or spiritual. She couldn’t quite make it out at first. Something about surrender, or acceptance, or the quiet patience required to survive a storm but she was interested. There was something impressive, maybe even admirable, about the way the person spoke, as if their voice carried a weight that only came from having lived through the same questions she was wrestling with.

So, Linh continued watching.

The speaker paused in the video, then said, “Sometimes the universe hides the answer until you’re soft enough to receive it.” Linh laughed under her breath, half disbelief, half relief. It was cheesy. But somehow, it worked. She felt her shoulders drop, just a little.

As the video ended, a strange warmth settled in her chest. Not a solution. Not clarity. But something gentler—permission, maybe, to take things one breath at a time.

For the first time that day, Linh didn’t open her messages. Instead, she put the phone down beside her, closed her eyes, and let herself feel the tiniest flicker of hope that maybe the next few days wouldn’t break her after all.