At the time, I was a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister. However, I was no longer a person. I made decisions about my life to satisfy the expectations of the people around me. I was miserable and falling deeper into depression. I didn’t recognise the person I saw looking back at me in the mirror. I couldn’t relate to anybody, or anything. There was a disconnect from the world and I was struggling to exist. There was no light in my life.

Four years later, on another sleepless night, I watched Jimmy Fallon interview BTS.

He mentioned they had spoken at the UN General Assembly that year. Wondering what on earth a South Korean boy group could possibly be speaking about at the UN, I looked up the speech and watched it. It was aimed at the youth, yet somehow their message Speak yourself was directed at me. It came for me, at a time when I was at a low point in my life. That speech extended a hand toward me to reach in; help lift me out of the void and into the light.

I was curious and I spent a few months listening to BTS’ back catalogue and looking up the English translation of their lyrics. There wasn’t one album or song I listened to that I didn’t resonate with. I enjoyed listening to their music, it brought light back into my life and I began to listen to all types of music again.

Reading the translated lyrics was like therapy. I began to reflect on my life through my own eyes.

With the help of BTS’ lyrics, I was able to begin to heal and find myself again. I could acknowledge the pain that existed in my life and, even though it was there, I would be ok. I could trust myself, no matter what was going to come up in my life, I would be able to get through it.

I am appreciative to the universe for sending BTS into my life when it did.

There is no way I can quantify the gratitude I have for BTS. I am here and who I am now because of seven young men and their guest appearance on a late-night television show.