Boasting

It often begins inconspicuously. A conversation in which you add a little — a detail that is not quite accurate but makes you look better. A story you tell in a way that makes your role appear larger. A number you correct upward. A success you mention even though no one asked. And later, when you are alone, you feel it — that quiet pull in the chest, that tightness in the throat, that flat feeling that sets in when you leave the room and know: you made yourself bigger again than you are.