
Let me tell you where this all started.
A few days ago, my fiancée asked me to return a handful of things on Amazon—nothing major. Some of it was already unboxed, which, by the way, is totally fine under Amazon’s return policy. But as I gathered up the stuff, I could feel that old anxiety stirring in my chest. I started thinking, “What if the shop owner gets annoyed? What if they think I’m a hassle?” My brain spiraled into this weird, familiar shame storm, and suddenly, I was a little kid again, desperate not to make anyone mad.









