The Things I Pretended Didn’t Hurt (But Did)

There are things I laughed off that deserved acknowledgement.

Moments I minimized.

Words I swallowed.

Situations I normalized because facing them felt inconvenient.

Pretending it didn’t hurt didn’t make me strong.

It just delayed the healing.

Now I name the hurt.

I don’t dramatize it — I respect it.

Pain doesn’t go away because you ignore it.

It waits.

Tag line:

Unhinged But Alive — I name the damage.