I drove to work with one earring in

Dear Delyara, I only noticed because I touched my ear at a red light and felt skin where I expected metal. That sums up my mornings lately — finished enough to pass, not finished enough to feel in control. By the time I realised, I was too far to turn back, so I kept driving, already slightly irritated in a way that had nothing to do with jewellery and everything to do with the ongoing feeling that I am always arriving half a step behind myself. Nobody at work cared. That’s not the point. The point is how often I feel assembled under pressure instead of ready.