πΏ A note for anyone whose phone is ringing right now and feels like they canβt breathe. If youβre letting calls go to voicemail today β youβre not weak. Youβre not avoiding life. Youβre not a bad daughter, son, partner, parent, or friend. Youβre a person in grief, in trauma, in survival mode β 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. Itβs a knock at the door of a house thatβs 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 β thatβs not concern. Thatβs pressure. Thatβs a fire alarm going off inside a body that already canβt breathe. Some truths most people donβt understand: π± You are allowed to turn your phone off. π± You are allowed to take days, weeks, or longer to respond to anyone. π± You are allowed to not explain yourself. π± You are allowed to protect your nervous system, even from people who love you. π± You are allowed to grieve without an audience. If someone in your life is calling you repeatedly and getting upset when you donβt pick up β thatβs their inability to sit with discomfort. Not your job to fix. The people who love you well will give you space. The ones who canβt β thatβs not love, itβs their need being framed as concern. You can love them and still not pick up. π¬ If you want to share β 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. π β Megan