I Came Back to Myself Slowly

Dear Delyara, I don’t know which category this belongs in, so maybe it belongs here. My victory is that I feel more present in my own life than I used to. There was a long period where I was functioning but absent — going through motions, doing what needed to be done, but not really feeling inside my own days. Everything felt blurred by stress, fatigue, disappointment, and emotional survival. Recently, I have noticed more of myself returning. I care again. I notice beauty again. I feel grief more honestly and joy more naturally. I want things again. Maybe that is not one victory. Maybe it is several. But it feels like one message: I am coming back.