I sat in the staff room and pretended to check emails so nobody would talk to me

Dear Delyara, I had no emotional skin left for other people’s moods. That’s what I knew at lunch. Not because my colleagues are terrible. Because I had already used too much of myself before midday, and the thought of one more conversation, one more workplace complaint, one more cheerful performance made me feel brittle. So I sat with my phone in my hand and my face arranged into “busy.” It worked. I hate that I needed that. I’m also grateful it worked.