Assuming I'm okay

It happens all the time...

Assuming someone's doing fine is so much easier than genuinely finding out if they are.

In the eyes of friends, families and colleagues, I'm always doing great, even if I try to say that this is not the case. If we're being honest, it's just laziness on their part. Because if I'm "doing fine" they don't have to be there.

Or worse, they can use my disclosed vulnerability to load me up with their own drama. So if I make the mistake of sharing some of my concerns for five minutes, they share theirs for two hours and expect me to make space for them forever after.

It's true I'm happy, strong and resilient. I've got lots of resources to make myself okay and to help others too... But on rare occasions*, the entire system breaks down, I don't want to be there for anybody and I wish someone was there for me.

*[Like when I'm 40 weeks pregnant, have been throwing up day and night for nine months, sleeping on a recline to try to ward off the heartburn and holding down a job that's a two hour commute from my home. Like when I face the delivery of a 4kg+ baby and countless trips to the French consulate in London only days after the birth to try to get a baby passport while orchestrating a move to Australia via France to keep the grandparents happy].