Respect

You don’t ever tell
You put into action strategies that allow you to show everyone that it’s business as usual
If you don’t, they want to get involved
They’ll try to understand

There is no understanding

But you can’t explain it to them
To everyone
Person after person after person
So you don’t tell anyone
You do the best you can
The things you do to cope cost an increased amount of energy
One by one certain facilities of normality begin to suffer
Some cease
Until you break
Then you see how much time you have
See what you can repair to gain a basic level of operation
You hide it from those around you
Because merely having them present costs too much, let alone questions and explanations
It’s easier to let them believe you’re tired, exhausted, upset
Such simple things
Nevertheless; the illusion is complete
From the outside everything has the appearance of being within acceptable levels of normality
They finally leave you alone
You become very good at keeping them at bay
But you never tell
Not ever