he said, 'just breathe through it,' and for a second, i thought of the old way, the pushing. but the lungs, they just felt like open windows, letting the air move through without resistance, and that familiar feeling in my chest, it’s less a tightness and more like a vast, open expanse, as if the space inside me finally matched the sky above. there's a kind of effortless suspension, even when the feet are rooted.