I no longer need the pain to be dramatic to believe myself

Dear Delyara, For a long time, I only trusted my own pain if it was dramatic enough. If it wasn’t obvious, visible, intense, or easy to explain, I would minimize it. Tell myself it wasn’t “real enough” to count. Compare it to bigger suffering. Dismiss it before anyone else could. Now I’m learning something simpler: pain doesn’t have to be theatrical to deserve tenderness. That has changed the way I hold myself.