I wanted to switch everyone off for ten minutes

Dear Delyara, Children, husband, television, school app, dog, kettle, the whole house. Not forever. Just ten minutes. I know that sounds terrible if you haven’t lived inside a body that has been emotionally touched all day long by requests, sounds, tones, movement, interruptions, and the endless little negotiations of ordinary life. But by yesterday evening, I could feel that every additional piece of input was landing on me with too much force. I did not switch anyone off. I went upstairs and sat in the bedroom for a bit instead. That was the more socially acceptable version of the same need. Less input. Less contact. One quiet patch of air between me and everybody else.