I can be loved and still feel alone

Dear Delyara, That is one of the hardest truths to say because it sounds ungrateful. I know I am loved in the practical ways. People call, children need me, my husband helps, friends check in, family asks how I am. On paper, there is contact everywhere. But there are still evenings where I feel emotionally untouched, like the deeper part of me has carried itself through the whole day without ever really being met. That is not the same as being abandoned. It is something quieter and more confusing. I think that kind of loneliness is why so many women feel ashamed to talk about it. Because the life around them still looks full enough that they think they have no right to feel empty anywhere inside it. But they do. I do.