I’ve been drifting through this thought lately… like what if low self-esteem isn’t just something sitting quietly in the back of your mind, but more like a slow leak… a quiet mist that touches everything without asking permission. It floats into your texts, makes your fingers hesitate on the send button, whispers “maybe you’re being too much” before you even say hello. It wraps itself around compliments like fog over glass, so even when someone tells you you’re beautiful or brilliant, you can’t quite see it, can’t quite believe it. You just… smile politely & change the subject. It shows up in 1/2 loved friendships, the ones you keep at arm’s length because real closeness feels like exposure. It feels like someone might see the parts of you that you’re still not ready to look at… So you give pieces of yourself, but never the whole thing. Because showing up fully feels risky, sometimes, risk.. closeness.. feels like the scariest kind of intimacy. But this love… It makes me want to stay. To soften. To let someone in without flinching.. I’m still unlearning, still catching myself pulling back. I don’t want to lose something good because I’m too used to guarding the door, so I’m trying. To choose closeness, even when distance feels familiar.