A week thick with self-criticism can leave you flinching from your own reflection by the end of it.

Warm gold, the colour of being looked on kindly, around white. It rings like one clear tone held and smells of sun on dry grass.

A week of self-criticism can feel like keeping yourself in line; mostly it just bruises. It earns you nothing from anyone — it holds a steady warmth to turn on yourself the way you'd warm a friend who's been too hard on themselves.