She turned around pale as anything and said, "There's a woman looking at me at the back of our garden." I said, "You've lost the plot, honey, you're not even in the garden."
It feels as though every successful person was born with a clear instruction manual explaining exactly what they were supposed to do in order to eventually live a happy life.
So my bus monitor started staring and listening into me and my sister's conversation. Like mind your own business! Then a random teacher just starts yelling at me. I got a bunch of anxiety and thought I looked ugly and fat.
Clinging too tightly in those moments is self preservation, not love. So many of us have this silly idea that if we hold things as close as possible, there will never be distance, or change, or conflict, but those are all as inevitable as sunrise.
So you listen, respond kindly, ask the right questions, and try not to seem wounded by the fact that your place was at the end of the story rather than inside