I was softer with strangers than with myself

Dear Delyara, A stranger inconvenienced me today and I responded with more grace than I have shown myself all week. That struck me. I know how to be kind outwardly. Patient. Reasonable. Human. I know how to assume context for other people — maybe they’re tired, maybe they’re stressed, maybe they didn’t mean it that way, maybe they’re doing their best. But when it comes to me, the tone changes so quickly. No context. No gentleness. No maybe. Just criticism. I don’t know when I learned that I am the one person in the room least deserving of the compassion I offer so easily elsewhere.