I keep trying to hide those pieces of myself I know I’ll be judged for so terribly, but then someone comes along and puts those same pieces of them out there so elegantly, that I can’t help but feel the shame fading away in ways that unexpectedly give voice to the darkest of my insecurities. Because I was never the only one, and the judgments haven’t only been getting to me. I’ve just been made to feel so alone in the process of trying to satisfy (what I thought was) everyone’s expectations. While everyone else assumed that’s what’s expected of them. That we no longer realized we’re the ones who’ve been making it so much harder for ourselves in the first place.