I still over-explain before anyone has misunderstood me

Dear Delyara, I add context. Soften. Clarify. Qualify. Offer the harmless version first. Make sure the room doesn’t get the wrong idea too quickly. It sounds careful. Reasonable. Mature. A lot of the time it is just fear dressed better. I’m tired of feeling like every honest sentence has to arrive carrying a little legal team. Because it means I am never just speaking. I am protecting in advance, reducing in advance, managing the possible reaction before it has even happened. That is exhausting. And it keeps me slightly outside my own truth every time.