Love Letters to the Girls

You wake up with the weight of a thousand unfulfilled expectations pressing against your chest. A tally in the back of your mind counts the things you haven’t done yet: the career you don’t have, the business you haven’t built, the life you thought you’d be living by now. Why does burnout feel so much like slacking? You feel like you're falling behind, but you're not entirely sure who you are trailing. Everyone and no one at the same time. Somewhere along the way, someone taught you that love must be earned, rest must be justified, and that your value depends on your ability to keep up. And so, you run. Me too. In fact, it's all I ever do in my dreams. I run and run and run and always wake up before arriving at my destination. The nightmare has repeated itself every night since fifth grade. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself where exactly you are running to? I wonder if you’ve noticed how tired you are, how cruel you’ve been to yourself. I have. Sometimes my spirit aches from trying

You wake up with the weight of a thousand unfulfilled expectations pressing against your chest. A tally in the back of your mind counts the things you haven’t done yet: the career you don’t have, the business you haven’t built, the life you thought you’d be living by now. Why does burnout feel so much like slacking? You feel like you're falling behind, but you're not entirely sure who you are trailing. Everyone and no one at the same time. Somewhere along the way, someone taught you that love must be earned, rest must be justified, and that your value depends on your ability to keep up. And so