I still leave family spaces with extra emotional weight

Dear Delyara, Even when the visit is fine, I come back carrying more than I took in. I think that’s because family spaces are never only present tense. They’re layered with history, old roles, tiny defensivenesses, old versions of yourself still hanging quietly in the room, and the pressure of being understood through a narrative you may have outgrown but not fully escaped. Love can live there. So can fatigue. That combination is harder than people outside the family system tend to understand.