The supermarket felt too bright for the kind of mood I was in

Dear Delyara, I only went in for a few things. But the lights, the aisles, the too-cheerful voices, the endless products, the feeling of too much choice pressed against a nervous system already worn thin — all of it suddenly felt overwhelming in a way I might have laughed off on another day. I kept moving. I got what I needed. I left. But I noticed how narrow my capacity had become for environments that ask the senses to stay open too widely. Sometimes it is not sadness or weakness or fragility. Sometimes it is simply sensory fullness reaching its limit. I’m trying to take that more seriously instead of calling myself dramatic for it.