I Don’t Want to Be Brave in Every Friendship

Dear Delyara, I don’t want to always be the wise one. The understanding one. The emotionally articulate one. The one who can hold hard truths without panicking the room. Some days I want to be ordinary. Messy. Needy. Repetitive. Unimpressive. Not yet done processing. Still halfway inside the confusion. And I want that version of me to be loved too. I don’t think she always is. Or maybe I don’t trust enough rooms to find out. That uncertainty has made me lonelier than I expected friendship could.