what's the thing you keep rereading and not replying to?
there is a particular kind of tension in a message you have read many times but not answered. it sits there, holding something you are not ready to deal with yet.
every day there's one live question, the same for everyone. answer it anonymously, see what other people said. it's all gone in seven days.
answer today's question →open your journal and write down who the message is from. you do not need to name the exact words, just the shape of it. write what you feel each time you reread it. is it guilt, is it tenderness, is it dread. then write down what replying would require of you. not what you would say, but what it would cost you to say it. sometimes the silence is not about the message at all. write about what it is actually about. you might find the reply was never the hard part.
- write about what you are protecting by staying quiet.
- try describing the feeling in your body each time you open and close the message.
- write the reply you would send if nothing bad could come of it.
this one is for you if your unread count is zero but your unanswered count is not. if there is a name you keep scrolling past, knowing you owe it something.