Stress Has Become My Normal Weather

Dear Delyara, That frightens me because weather is easy to stop noticing. If it stormed every day, I’d call it a crisis. But what if it just drizzles constantly? What if stress becomes the atmosphere? The jaw, the shoulders, the tone, the heart rate, the need for too much silence, the body already half-braced before the next thing even happens. That is where I think I am. Still functioning. Still passing as normal. Still describing myself as “just busy” in rooms that don’t need more truth from me. But inside, the weather has changed. And it has been changed too long. I don’t want this to be normal. I’m just afraid of how familiar it has become.