When You’re Suffocating and Need a Way Out

I stood there for so long, my arms went numb. Four hours to be exact. And the numbness and tingling had become too much to bear. I had to move, to breathe, be set free.

The job was noble and someone had to do it, but I should have had the nerve to speak up sooner, to ask for a break, to say I’d had enough.

But I didn’t. I was suffocating in an effort to help someone else. Afraid of what others would say if I’d walked away.

Far too often, we put, and keep, ourselves in positions that we need...