I Stayed Up Too Late Just to Belong to Myself

Dear Delyara, I wasn’t doing anything special. No grand project. No meaningful reflection. No beautiful self-care ritual. I was just awake in my own house after everybody stopped needing me, and the relief of that felt too precious to surrender quickly. So I stayed up. Even though I knew tomorrow would come harder because of it. Even though I knew I was borrowing peace from sleep. Even though I knew this was not wisdom. Sometimes it is not wisdom. It is hunger. And I was hungry for unclaimed time.