Don’t Forget to Exhale

How much of your life do you spend holding your breath?

Photo by IIONA VIRGIN on Unsplash

When my oldest (now non-binary) kid was a baby, they would get upset about something, hold their breath, and pass out. They didn’t do it on purpose, taking one big breath in and sitting there with puffed-out cheeks, looking at me accusingly. Instead, they would just keep inhaling more and more with each sob, and with no more room in the lungs, they would simply go…