I still become more careful than I mean to around family

Dear Delyara, I don’t walk into those spaces planning to edit myself. It just happens. The tone changes first. Then the pacing of my words. Then the amount of honesty I feel safe offering without extra cushioning. It’s subtle enough that if you asked me during the moment, I might say everything was fine. Only later do I feel how much shaping I did to stay navigable inside the room. I think family leaves old reflexes in the body long after the context around them has partly changed. That’s what I still feel.