I ruminate obsessively over social situations in which vague interactions with others lead me to question what I did or did not do, what I said or should have said, or what I definitely should not have said and, regardless of what occurred, I accept that it is my fault.

Classically, I enter a spiral of shame, recounting every single incident and how I felt in the moment. Unworthy, stewing in self-doubt and struggling to contain emotions I dare not reveal because I am not perfect. To protect my truth, I mirror what is expected of me except when I am absent, empty, void, startled by the stillness of truth. My truth. I would like not to be a burden.