I stopped making my body the place where the budget always gets tighter first

Dear Delyara, For years I cut from myself first. The better shoes could wait. The appointment could wait. The lunch could wait. The warmer coat could wait. The decent bra could wait. My comfort, my pain, my fatigue, all of it could be postponed because there were louder needs in the family, louder deadlines, louder reasons. I am tired of letting my body be the first place sacrifice becomes visible. So I changed it. Not extravagantly. Intentionally. I bought the better shoes. I booked the appointment. I ate properly. I stopped treating every act of care toward myself as a guilty luxury just because money and motherhood had trained me to. I think self-love is often less emotional than people imagine. Sometimes it is a woman quietly deciding that her pain will no longer be the easiest thing to leave unresolved.