There are truths about my marriage and my mind that I still can’t say in rooms where they would be minimised

Dear Delyara, It’s not that I don’t know them. It’s that I know exactly what some people would do with them. Reduce them. Soften them. Convert them into hormones, stress, age, tiredness, “just a rough patch,” “just life,” or “you need a break.” Sometimes breaks help. Sometimes reduction is just another form of not wanting to hear a woman properly. So I say less. And the truths stay in me. That has a cost. The body knows when it is carrying unsaid things, especially the serious ones. Marriage doubts. Mental health truths. Resentments. Fears about the future. Quiet griefs that do not sound dramatic enough to earn room if spoken badly. I am not hiding from myself. I am often hiding from poor reception. That is different. Still painful.