I never know how to explain it. Being around people drains me, the noise, the small talk, the constant pretending that I'm okay, it all takes energy I don't have. So I chose distance. I tell myself I just need space, that I breathe better on my own. But the silence isn't soft like people think. It's heavy. It echoes. I push everyone away to escape the exhaustion, then sit alone feeling a different kind of suffocation. People assume I'm cold or antisocial. I know I'm just tired. They see independence; I teel isolation. And the hardest part is not knowing which is worse, feeling alone by yourself, or feeling alone in a room full of people.