I was tired in a way food could not fix

Dear Delyara, I made something to eat and could tell halfway through that what I was craving wasn’t hunger relief exactly. It was a different kind of tired. The kind that lives in thought, tone, attention, and whatever part of the body has been on alert too long without announcing itself dramatically enough to be taken seriously. I ate anyway, because bodies still need the practical form of care even when the deeper tiredness remains. But I noticed the difference. And that felt important. Not every emptiness is hunger. Not every heaviness is sadness. I’m trying to get better at telling them apart.