The Courage to Sit

Clara bought the chair on a day she almost didn’t leave the house. It was nothing special,

wooden, slightly worn, but she placed it by the window as if it mattered,

like it was a decision. Every morning after that, she sat there with her coffee,

watching the city wake up without asking anything of her. For years,

her life had been shaped around other people’s needs. She measured her worth in usefulness,

her days in how little space she took up. Silence became her talent.

When the diagnosis came, burnout, grief, and depression tangled

together; she felt embarrassed more than afraid. As if needing rest were a failure of