# Clenched Jaws

**Published by:** [jer979](https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/)
**Published on:** 2025-07-09
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@jer979-2/clenched-jaws

## Content

For most of my life until now, I had a need to be “right.” But it wasn’t just being “right,” it was almost like a compulsion to be thoroughly and completely “right.” Like a domination of the intellectual argument, of sorts. Where that came from and why is a different matter. But now, in addition to recognizing how it has not only served me, but harmed me in terms of growth, I can feel its effects. There’s a weight in my jaw, almost like a stone attached to it, that I’m now really tired of carrying around. It’s sore and it’s starting to hurt. All those years of clenching in an effort to “prove” something to someone, anyone, has taken its toll. I hope that letting go of the need to be right all the time is going to cut that weight loose.

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