I entered the room without privately apologising for my body, my age, or my tiredness first

Dear Delyara, The old voice still rises quickly — too old, too much, too tired-looking, too soft, too visible, too this, too that. It has had years of practice. It knows how to sound intelligent and realistic rather than cruel. This time I didn’t give it the chair at the table. I got dressed. I went in. I let myself occupy the room without doing half the world’s shrinking for it beforehand. That mattered because I am tired of how often women reduce themselves before anyone has even asked them to. I’m tired of joining that reduction as if it’s simply part of getting ready. I want dignity before permission. This felt like one act of that.