I feel like a stranger in my own home. An outsider. The lodger that has outstayed their welcome. When are these feelings going to fade? As though the cycle of my youth has started again. Pressure. Pressure to get a proper job. Pressure to find someone to settle down with. Pressure to be someone I donβt want to be. Pressure to live up to the same standards as everyone else. Pressure to be independent. Not just independent in the sense as we know it but in the financial sense. Pressure to be thin. Pressure to be as thin as my mum. How do I break away from those projections of frustration, of disappointment, of self-loathing?