I still become apologetic too quickly with my mother

Dear Delyara, It doesn’t take much. One comment. One sigh. One subtle correction disguised as concern. One little sentence that suggests I’m tired because I’m handling life badly rather than because life has actually been hard. And suddenly I can hear it in my own voice — the softening, the defending, the over-explaining, the old reflex to make sure she doesn’t leave the conversation thinking I’ve done adulthood “wrong.” I’m tired of how much of me can still be reduced through a single tone. I know people say, at some point you have to stop letting parents have that power. I understand the sentence. The nervous system understands something older. That gap is painful to live with.