I Sent the Follow-Up Email Before I Could Talk Myself Out of It

Dear Delyara, I wrote it quickly on purpose. Because if I gave myself too much time, I knew exactly what would happen. I’d over-soften it. Then over-explain it. Then tell myself a different wording might be wiser. Then decide maybe silence is more professional. Then call my fear tact and let another week pass. So I wrote the email and pressed send while my courage was still warm. It was not a perfect email. It was a real one. That’s what mattered. I am tired of letting my desire for work, movement, opportunity, and voice get strangled by the need to sound impossibly polished before I’m allowed to be visible. This time I was visible first. It felt raw and grown-up and right.