#quiet struggle

[makingsenseofwhathappened]

“It’s exhausting to mask and to mute ourselves.”

-Diane Williams @75 (Photo: Sarah Wilmer)

This line captures what so many of us learn to do at work: mask what’s happening, mute how bad it is, try to make ourselves smaller so we don’t rock the boat.

If you’ve ever felt like you’ve had to edit yourself out of your own story, like me, Williams’s small, semi-demented stories can be a bizarre comfort: unsettling and absurd in the way navigating survival can be (or at least has been for me over the years).

It's terrible but sometimes we have to hide pieces of ourselves to survive -- you just slip into hiding like an itchy Halloween costume you can't take off. But here you are anyway, after all. And right there in some of these stories, too, I think.

[throughthefogpress]

Hard Seasons

Some seasons don’t announce themselves with thunder. They slip in quietly— a slow dimming of color, a heaviness in the air that no one else seems to notice. You keep moving. You answer questions. You show up where you’re expected. But something inside you is walking through mud no one can see. Hard times don’t always look dramatic. Sometimes they look like laundry folded with tired…

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[writteninlowlight]

Too much, not enough

🫧🕯️🫧🕯️🫧🕯️🫧🕯️🫧🕯️🫧🕯️🫧🕯️🫧🕯️

I feel like too much and not enough all at once.

I'm too excitable

Too sad

Too loud

Too quiet

Too much

Too little

I see the tired nods when I talk too much. The distant look when they zone out.

The apologetic smiles when they see me notice.

The worry when I stop. The “are you okays” when I cut myself off from rambling. The looks of confusion.

I have too much energy and not enough.

I talk too loud or not enough.

I don't mean to be, I don't even notice. The guilt and anxiety is overwhelming.

Every interaction analysed in the dark. Every reaction over thought.

I am tired. They are too.

I am too much, and not enough

[brokenbutbecoming]

Not All Battles Are Loud — Some Are Silent Storms Within

The Soundless War — Broken But Becoming The Soundless War Not All Battles Are Loud — Some Are Silent Storms Within Introduction: The Soundless War There are battles you hear about — explosive arguments, fiery debates, shattered glass. But then, there are the battles no one hears. The ones fought in the shadows of a smile. The ones carried between breaths, between conversations, between fake…

Not All Battles Are Loud — Some Are Silent Storms Within