I told the truth about how bad the fatigue really is

Dear Delyara, I’ve hidden it too well for too long. Not because I wanted to lie. Because “I’m tired” is easier to say than “some days I feel half-alive inside ordinary life” and “I’m functioning” sounds more respectable than “I am worried by how far away from myself I’ve been feeling.” This week I said the fuller truth. The doctor looked at me differently once I did. More seriously. More accurately. And I realised how often I have been protecting professionals from the discomfort of my actual reality by handing them a reduced version of it first. I don’t want to do that anymore. It costs me too much.