Broken Promises to Self

I wrote it down once—

"Learn to say no more."

January was a thin skin,

a fragile armor

against the crowd’s weight.

Now it peels,

like the cracked screen of my phone

listing endless to-dos,

tasks added faster than I can cut.

Each beep a nudge,

a jab,

a reminder

of promises buried under a pile of yeses.

The shame lingers,

a shadow behind the cracked glass,

a quiet ache in the pulse of the day.

And here I am,

still drowning,

still reaching

for words I left unsaid.