The day after my 28th birthday, I woke up to more notifications on this app than I'd ever had on any social media platform before. My birthday post apparently struck a chord with others, got re-rec'd, reached more people than I expected. It was something I'd wanted since my first insecure steps on social media at 13: Eyes on my words. And now it terrified me. I didn't know what to post anymore, got too hung up on the imagined expectations of a handful of new followers. So I took a step back. Took a temp job in HR. Focused on my Substack. After a while, ever so slowly, I came back to myself and the ideas I had for this account. All I needed was some space.