Lately, I’ve been carrying this low, invisible hum beneath everything.
It’s not always loud.
Sometimes it’s deafening.
Sometimes it’s just… there — heavy in my chest, buzzing behind my eyes, filling the space between one thought and the next.
It shows up in tired eyes, in the 17 tabs open in my brain (and my browser), in the half-drunk tea I forgot about three times.
And sometimes, it’s just a lot.
So if you’re feeling like you’re holding too many emotions, too many thoughts, too many “shoulds” all at once — I just want to say:
Same.
And you’re not broken.
You’re not behind.
You’re just a human being, feeling very human things in a world that keeps asking us to keep going. Not just going — running.
Running toward a finish line that keeps moving further away.
It’s okay to not know what you’re feeling
Maybe you’re overwhelmed — but also strangely hopeful.
Maybe you feel tender, tired, anxious, grateful… all before 10 a.m.
Maybe you cried because someone used the right tone of voice — and then forgot what you were crying about two minutes later.
That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.
It means you’re alive.
It means your heart is paying attention, even if your brain can’t catch up just yet.
We weren’t meant to hold it all alone
There’s so much noise out there.
So many opinions. So many headlines. So many “gentle” reminders to meditate, hydrate, journal, stretch, rest, breathe — all while you’re just trying to get through the day without crying in the grocery store.
(Or if you’re me, without going full-on Tawanda in the parking lot. Watch Fried Green Tomatoes if you need that reference — highly therapeutic.)
Here’s something softer:
You don’t have to fix how you feel.
You don’t have to name every emotion.
You don’t have to sort it all out today — or even this month.
You just have to be here.
Breathing.
Pausing.
Taking care of yourself in the smallest ways you can manage.
Things that help me when I feel everything:
- Saying out loud: “This is too much.” No filter. Just truth.
- Doom scrolling (yes, really) — sometimes my brain needs to check out so my body can relax
- Letting things stay undone (even the dishes, the emails, the reply I meant to send two days ago)
- Making tea instead of making decisions
- Crying. In the car, in the shower, in the middle of doing nothing. Letting it be okay.
- Saying, “I’ll come back to this tomorrow” — and meaning it
- Turning down the volume. Mentally, digitally, emotionally. Just… less noise.
These aren’t fixes.
They’re not shiny productivity hacks.
They’re just little ways I try to stay with myself, instead of running away from the hard stuff.
A gentle reminder (in case today’s been a lot)
You don’t have to be more productive.
You don’t have to “push through.”
You don’t have to shrink your feelings to fit someone else’s comfort zone.
You’re allowed to feel it all.
Even when it’s contradictory.
Even when it’s messy.
Even when you don’t have a name for it.
Especially then.
So if today feels like too much, or not enough, or just everything all at once — you’re not alone.
I see you.
I’m right here too.
Still feeling it all.
Still finding small ways to keep going.
Still choosing softness, even in the overwhelm.