I Sent the Email While My Hands Were Shaking

Dear Delyara, I’m telling you that part because it matters. People love stories about confidence. This was not one of those. This was one of those moments where you know exactly what needs to be done and your body still behaves like you’re stepping onto a stage with no clothes on. I wrote the email. Read it once. Read it again. Almost saved it for tomorrow. Then looked at my own reflection in the laptop screen and thought, You are doing it again. You are calling fear discernment. So I hit send while my hands were still shaking. I sat there afterward with that sour, exposed feeling in my stomach and also this fierce little pulse of pride. Not because I felt powerful. Because I moved anyway. That counts for more these days.