I think stress has become the background weather inside my body

Dear Delyara, The jaw. The shoulders. The sleep. The breath. The readiness. The quickness with which my system moves to alertness over ordinary things by evening. I’m not in crisis every day. That’s exactly why this is so dangerous. It is subtle enough to be called normal. But I can feel the cost. How much more effort it takes now to stay warm. To stay patient. To receive sound, requests, or small changes without my body reacting as if each one is bigger than it is. I do not want stress to become my body’s native language. And yet, some days, I think I am already living inside that adaptation.