I think stress has become the background weather of my body

Dear Delyara, Not the storm. The weather. Always there. Jaw, shoulders, chest, breath, sleep, startle, patience, the speed of my thoughts, the speed of my reactions, the way my body seems to receive interruption as if it were impact by the end of the day. I still function. That is why it is so easy to miss. I still do the things. I still answer. I still care. I still show up. But underneath all of that is this relentless low-level alertness that no longer feels like an event. It feels like the climate of my life. And I am scared of how easily the body can begin calling what is merely common normal.