🌿 A note for anyone whose phone is ringing right now and feels like they can’t breathe. If you’re letting calls go to voicemail today — you’re not weak. You’re not avoiding life. You’re not a bad daughter, son, partner, parent, or friend. You’re a person in grief, in trauma, in survival mode — and your body is doing exactly what it should be doing: protecting itself. A ringing phone, to a grieving nervous system, is not a small thing. It’s a knock at the door of a house that’s already collapsing. Every call is one more thing someone wants from you. Every voicemail is one more thread of obligation. And when someone calls 10, 20, 50 times in a row — that’s not concern. That’s pressure. That’s a fire alarm going off inside a body that already can’t breathe. Some truths most people don’t understand: 🌱 You are allowed to turn your phone off. 🌱 You are allowed to take days, weeks, or longer to respond to anyone. 🌱 You are allowed to not explain yourself. 🌱 You are allowed to protect your nervous system, even from people who love you. 🌱 You are allowed to grieve without an audience. If someone in your life is calling you repeatedly and getting upset when you don’t pick up — that’s their inability to sit with discomfort. Not your job to fix. The people who love you well will give you space. The ones who can’t — that’s not love, it’s their need being framed as concern. You can love them and still not pick up. 💬 If you want to share — only if you want to: How is your relationship with your phone right now? Is it loud? Quiet? Off? We hold space for it all here. 💛 — Megan