Debt Has Started Teaching Me to Make Myself Smaller Before Anyone Else Has Even Asked Me To

Dear Delyara, It teaches reduction. Not only in money. In wanting. In posture. In self-permission. A better pair of shoes? Not necessary. The nicer version? Not for me. A little comfort? Wait. A little ease? Later. A replacement before something hurts? Not yet. A proper meal instead of grabbing whatever is quickest? The children first. Debt enters a woman’s life and quickly starts trying to enter her self-worth too. It makes her the easiest place to cut because she has been trained for years to be the softest part of the budget. I can feel that training in me now. And I hate it. Because it is not only financial. It is moral. It starts making ordinary care toward myself feel like indulgence, and that is such a cruel way to live.