Today, Archie wanted to go to the cinema.
I don’t mind the cinema — it’s quiet, dark, and no one can really see you. The one we usually go to is perfect: a car park right underneath, straight from the car into the theatre. No fuss. No public wandering.
But today, they were fully booked.
Archie still wanted to go, so the only other option was a big shopping centre — 20 minutes on the motorway, and somewhere I knew there was a high chance I’d bump into someone I knew.
I put my big girl pants on.
Archie has already suffered enough because of me, and I didn’t want to be the reason he missed out.
From the second I booked the tickets, though, my mind went into overdrive. I overthought every possible scenario — things that, in reality, were unlikely to happen. But in that moment, they all felt entirely possible.
The whole time we were there, I was on edge… until we got back in the car.
Now, if that’s my reaction to a small outing, I want you to picture this:
I made a claim through the employment tribunal against my old employer. They had 28 days to respond.
For those 28 days, I barely slept.
I couldn’t focus on anything else.
My mood dropped so low I could almost feel it physically.
And then… on the 28th day, their response came.
It simply said: “waiting for tribunal.”
That was it. Not even a full sentence.
All that stress. All that emotional energy. All for nothing.
I put in a request for a further explanation last week. They were given 7 days to reply.
So once again: sleepless nights. Racing thoughts. That same old ache of “I’m not enough” and “I don’t matter.”
Today is the 7th day.
No reply. Not even an acknowledgement.
When you know exactly what a person has been through…
When you know the impact your actions have already had…
Why would you go out of your way to make their life harder?
Why would you prolong the stress you’ve caused for even longer than necessary?
Because sometimes, it’s not the big, dramatic actions that break a person.
It’s the waiting.
The silence.
The casual disregard that says, “You’re not important enough to answer.”
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