text: He looked at himself in the mirror, a thin smile stretched across his face. The smile seems forced and his face looks more like a mask. He closes his eyes for a brief moment before opening them and forcing a larger smile on his face. Still he was not satisfied with the man in the mirror. Why must you pretend to be happy? He ponders. He thinks back to when he was only a young boy when he was diagnosed with a rare heart condition that would ostracize him his entire life. He thinks back to the moment he turned to heroin to mend his frustrations and hurt. He thinks back to the moment when the doctors attached a permanent heart monitor onto his body, impeding him to even go out to the bars with his friends. He looks back in the mirror, no longer even smiling. Then he breaks into the most genuine and happiest smile he had ever seen. He felt strong and empowered, he felt invincible because in that moment he understood how truly unlimited he was. He thought of his friends as a young boy, how they stood by his side through it all. He thought of his two year sobriety medal, his personal proof of his own pure determination. And he thought of the nights when he snuck out to the bars with his friends against the doctor’s orders, those are the people he lives for and the nights he’d always remember. He looks in the mirror and gives himself a wink before shooting a photo commemorating this moment. He leaves the room with a smile on his face to attend the last surgery of his life. He was truly unlimited.