Dear tired woman,
Yes, you. The one reading this in a stolen minute between everything else, wondering if you have enough left in you to get through the rest of today, let alone the rest of this season of your life.
You have been holding a great deal
I want you to know that I see how much you have been carrying, and for how long. Not just today's list, but the quiet accumulation of years spent anticipating what everyone else needed before they even had to ask.
You have shown up for people who never once asked if you were tired. You have kept going through seasons that would have broken someone who cared less than you do. That is not nothing. That is not something to apologize for.
Tired is not the same as failing
Somewhere along the way, you may have started believing that your exhaustion is a personal failing — that a stronger woman, a better woman, wouldn't feel this depleted.
She would. Anyone carrying what you carry would.
Tiredness is not proof that you are doing life wrong. It is proof that you have been doing an enormous amount, for a long time, mostly without help, mostly without rest, mostly without anyone noticing the weight of it.
What I hope for you today
I am not going to tell you to simply relax, as though the years of holding everything together can be undone in an afternoon. But I do hope you will let this be the moment you stop waiting for permission.
You do not have to earn your rest by collapsing first. You do not have to prove your exhaustion before you're allowed to set something down.
Today, let one small thing wait. Let one small kindness be for you instead of for someone else. You have given so much of yourself away. It is enough, for now, to simply come back to you.
With tenderness,
— The Dancing Sage 🌿
