Unlikely Story

by Ali Rosen

She had blue skin, And so did he. He kept it hid And so did she. They searched for blue Their whole life through, Then passed right by And never knew. —Shel Silverstein

For most adults, when you don’t talk about your feelings a lot, the vocabulary for it atrophies. When we’re kids, we’re taught to identify our emotions. We use color charts or characters or affirmations to help us go from useless blobs to fully formed people. We learn how to say “I feel blank when you blank. I want blank.” We work on expressing ourselves without throwing tantrums. But then as adults we get better at camouflage. We learn how to redirect so we don’t have to always feel so deeply. We comport ourselves so we can live in a world of adult feelings and expectations.

Being able to build a life where I get to introvert alone is one of the greatest advantages to aging.

I hate that I always do this. I soften; I shrink myself; I give in just to make things less unpleasant for everyone.

“All hobbies are expensive distractions.