I am frightened that this might be what life feels like now

Dear Delyara, That thought visits me more than I like admitting. Not because my life is hopeless. Because it is full. And tired. And practical. And so often emotionally expensive in small daily ways that I sometimes wonder if this is simply adulthood now — carrying too much, sleeping too lightly, answering too much, feeling too little space, and calling all of it normal because everyone else looks equally strained. I don’t want to accept a life that feels permanently overused. But I’m frightened of how easily I adapt to things that quietly hurt me. That frightens me more than the hard days themselves. The possibility of normalising them.