I still revisit the self who chose the smaller life

Dear Delyara, Not because I think she was weak. Because I know she was scared. Still, there are nights when I look back and feel grief for the ways fear reduced what I thought I could ask for. The smaller dream. The lower bar. The relationship accepted, the opportunity declined, the truth softened, the self abandoned in increments too tiny to look dramatic at the time. I know compassion is the right posture toward that self. Some nights sorrow gets there first. And tonight, sorrow is here.