I still feel guilty for being easier to hurt when I’m tired

Dear Delyara, As if I should be stronger at all times. As if exhaustion were no excuse. As if my tenderness should remain equally defended under every internal weather condition. I know that’s unreasonable. A tired nervous system is a thinner surface. Things land harder. Tone cuts deeper. A small disappointment expands more quickly than it normally would. That is not weakness. It is just human mechanics. And yet guilt still arrives. Not only for what I do. For what I feel. I am trying to become kinder toward the days when my skin is emotionally thinner. But the older voice still says: you should have handled that better.