told the physio when it hurt

Dear Delyara, That shouldn’t be as hard as it is for me. There is some old part of me that still wants to cope beautifully, even in pain. To minimise. To keep going. To sound manageable. So when the exercise hurt, my first instinct was to push through and then complain privately afterward like I always do. This time I stopped and said, “That hurts.” Such a small sentence. Such a big shift. She changed the movement immediately and said I should have said it earlier. She was right. I left feeling slightly embarrassed and also deeply relieved. I want to stop performing strength in rooms that are literally there to help me.