When I first met Marina, I saw something in her eyes\u2014
On the outside, she seemed to have it all together.
But behind her smile, something felt\u2026 heavy.
One day, after we\u2019d built enough trust, she finally said: <\/p>\n\n
Her words stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n
Marina was sharp, composed, thoughtful.
\u201cI enjoy my work. It\u2019s meaningful, and people value what I do. But\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Her voice drifted.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cSince my promotion came up, I\u2019ve felt\u2026 off.
The image she used\u2014a deflated balloon\u2014was heartbreaking.<\/p>\n\n
I gently reflected her words back to her:
She paused.
That distance\u2014that inability to connect with her own pain\u2014
I asked,
\u201cI\u2019d recommend counseling,\u201d
A clear and compassionate answer\u2014
So I asked,
She paused.
Suddenly, everything she\u2019d shared started to make sense.<\/p>\n\n
His words, his judgments, the way he dismissed her needs\u2014
\u201cHe says, \u2018You\u2019re not sick, so you don\u2019t need counseling. This was emotional control\u2014clear as day.<\/p>\n\n \u201cI was so scared of his reaction, Her shoulders trembled as she spoke.<\/p>\n\n Then she added, almost as an afterthought, And yet, even now, She truly was that deflated balloon\u2014 But\u2014<\/p>\n\n she had still reached out. That meant some part of her still longed for air. Please don’t doubt that instinct…<\/p>\n\n Your exhaustion, your unease\u2014they mean something.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n And more than anything\u2014 If a part of you wants to talk to someone,<\/p>\n\n please honor that instinct.<\/p>\n\n Reach out when you’re ready, I should be fine\u2026 so why do I feel so empty? When I first met Marina, I saw something in her eyes\u2014a quiet shadow of pain she hadn\u2019t shown anyone. On the outside, she seemed to have it all together.Eight years into her career, up for promotion,the kind of person others describe as \u201cdoing well.\u201dAnd…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,65],"tags":[67,94,95,96,92,93,91,69],"class_list":["post-2116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marinas-series","category-marinas-story","tag-emotional-abuse","tag-emotional-abuse-en","tag-episode-2","tag-feeling-empty","tag-gaslighting","tag-lost-sense-of-self","tag-self-esteem","tag-toxic-relationship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annakitano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\nA Note for You<\/h2>\n\n