University of Chicago, New York University, Duke University

As the sun incessantly falls beyond the horizon, so too does my inner world fall into turmoil. The transformation of the blue sky into glossy pinks and oranges signals an impending battle under the darkness of the night. Since I was young, I have been terrified of the dark—of the loneliness, the irrationality, and the uncontrollable fears that would jump out in the silence. If I was the last one awake, no one would hear me if I called. It was 2018, in Washington, DC, and I was 8000 miles away from home. As the only religious Jew at the Global Young Leaders Conference, my parents had organized…