Just Trying to Breathe

Suffocation is something I feel these days.

Not from lack of air—

but from everything else.

I don’t know the cause.

Can’t point a finger.

But it’s there—

pressing down,

quiet,

constant.

People around me wear their smiles well.

They talk like everything's fine.

Maybe it is for them.

But I know—

something’s getting heavier.

And I’m sinking quietly beneath it.

It’s beyond my reach,

this mess,

this weight.

Still, I try.

I try to make it through one more day.

Push through one more moment.

Hold one more thought in place

before it unravels.

I don’t have answers.

I don’t have strength every second.

But I’m still here.

Just trying.

Simran Kaur