I’ve felt darker things than I like to admit

Dear Delyara, I wish pain always made people gentle. It doesn’t. Sometimes it makes us bitter first. Sometimes it makes us hard. Sometimes it creates feelings we don’t like to name because naming them would ruin the image we still want to have of ourselves. I have felt darker things than I say out loud. Not constantly. Not proudly. But really. I think pretending pain only produces wisdom is another kind of dishonesty.