The Guilt of Saying No

Dear Delyara, I said no today and felt guilty for hours afterward. It was not even a big thing. Someone asked for a favor, and I simply did not have the energy. I said no politely. They were fine. Nothing exploded. The world did not end. And yet I felt like I had failed some invisible moral test. It is amazing how deeply some of us are trained to believe that exhaustion is preferable to disappointing someone. I do not want to live like that forever