Growing up Muslim and the journey to strengthen Iman

Sometimes I feel really embarrassed about the struggle to establish my Salah consistently. It's shameful that it took a major hardship-losing my physical independence for a whole month-to bring me back to what I truly loved as a child: reciting Qur'an, making heartfelt du'a, and yearning to pray with sincerity. There was even a time when atheist arguments almost pulled me off the path, but alhamdulillah, I couldn't leave my deen. I keep reminding myself that Allah (SWT) doesn't ask for perfection from His servants, and He sees and weighs our efforts. Still, that thought scares the little kid inside me who used to love reciting Qur'an and praying next to a parent, even before fully understanding it all.