"It Seemed Like a Terrible Thing" by Stefani Capizzi

It seemed like a terrible thing, but some good came out of it.

I thought it was difficult and uncomfortable and upsetting - setting boundaries and telling the truth. 

I put it off. I was afraid. I did not want to feel the probable anger and hurt that would follow. And the rejection that would surely be.  

Fear of rejection, in so many ways, kept me quiet for so many years. 

But I have learned,  I have learned. 

In the end, something good came out of it. 

I was able to stand on the line, my line. I did not fall off on one side or the other. The other person did not die, nor did I. 

Their ability to be awake, to hear, did not define my ability to speak.