“How are you today?”
“I am okay,” I reply,
tears slipping quietly down my face,
heart too heavy for my chest,
breathing shallow, like even that feels like too much.
The truth is, I’m not doing great.
But saying “I’m okay”
makes everything stop.
No questions,
no worried looks,
no need to explain the ache I don’t have words for.
I remember my therapist asking me this,
when I was already breaking.
I remember her voice,
so gentle,
when I couldn’t hold it together anymore.
And I cried,
for what felt like forever,
apologising between sobs
for feelings I couldn’t even name.
As if I was doing something wrong
just by hurting.
But in that space,
with tear-stained cheeks
and a trembling voice,
I learned something soft, something quiet:
I don’t have to hide this.
I don’t have to pretend.
I can sit with my pain,
hold it without shame,
give myself permission
to not be okay.
©️Her Poetic Journey
H