Too heavy? Good.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been told you’re “too much.” Too loud. Too emotional. Too intense. Too everything. Like feeling everything deeply or simply being yourself is a problem, and existing is wrong no matter what you do. I don't know about you, but I know I’ve carried that weight like a backpack for years - weighed down with every time someone told me I was too much, too crazy, to calm down, to quiet myself, to be less. And every time I swallowed my feelings so hard they felt like knives in my throat just to keep the peace or avoid being labeled crazy or too sensitive... (unsuccessfully most times.)

Being a parent only makes it harder. Because on top of the never-ending exhaustion, the guilt, the chaos, you’re told you’re "too much" for needing a break. Too much for showing the parts of you that are broken, tired, or scared. Too much for admitting when you’re overwhelmed or angry. Too much for needing help. Too much or too emotional to be professional. Too much when you crave more than just a superficial conversation about something stupid like weather. Too much for answering "how are you?" honestly.

So you put on a mask. You fake “I'm good how are you” at work, at school events, at family dinners - but not too loud, not too emotional, not too much. Because if you’re anything more than easy, you become a problem to fix - or worse - someone to avoid.

It’s freaking exhausting. Carrying that weight every single day, hiding the parts of yourself that don’t fit the neat little box everyone wants to shove you into. Feeling like you’re drowning in all the feelings and if you show any of them, then there a special spot in the nuthouse for you. The anxiety that never really leaves, the crushing fatigue, the fear that you’re barely holding it together.

BUT. Here is what no one tells you about being “too much:" it doesn’t mean you’re broken or crazy. It means you’re alive. You’re raw. You're real. You're you. You're trying your absolute hardest, even when it feels like everything is falling apart. Being “too much” means you feel it all - the overwhelm, the fierce love, the pain that becomes a physical ache. It means you’ve been pushed to your limits and beyond, but you. keep. showing. up.

And that stubborn refusal to disappear quietly? That’s not weakness. That’s strength. Even when you’re bone tired and broken inside, you still show up for your kids, for your family and close friends, for your work, for yourself. You don’t shrink, even when the world demands it. You have a heart so big, it can carry all of the feels - all at once - all of the time.

You’re still here. Still fighting. Still loving. Still you. And I’m tired - so damn tired - of apologizing for being too much. Aren't you?

So if you are carrying the same heavy backpack, guess what?? We are going to say together to ourselves: I AM too much. I am all of it. And I’m done being sorry for it.

Because at the end of the day, if they think you’re too much - then let them go find less.

xoxo

Madi