Paradigm Shift

I have always wanted friendship and community, but I had not often experienced it wanting me, in return.

The sensation is surprisingly unsettling.

While I have known and written about feeling isolated, I did not really know how chronically it had impacted.

I am shocked by how exposed I feel – as if someone has overturned a rock under which I was hiding.

Being invited to express myself imperfectly feels alarming as I risk and dare to care.

I lose sense of who I have been and currently think I am – as if I am suddenly spinning out of control, careening.