I wanted one evening without emotional labor

Dear Delyara, That’s all I wanted today. Not a holiday. Not a dramatic escape. Just one evening where I didn’t have to hold anything for anyone. No soothing. No careful reading of mood. No right response. No responsibility for keeping a conversation pleasant or a situation steady. I think people underestimate how exhausting emotional labor becomes when it’s constant and quiet. Especially if you are good at it. Especially if everyone assumes you can keep doing it because you usually do. By tonight, even kindness felt like effort. That’s how I knew I needed to stop.