🧨 “You’re so strong. I don’t know how you do it.”

They mean it as a compliment. And maybe once, you took it that way. But lately?

Lately, it doesn’t feel empowering. It feels like a sentence. Like you’ve been cast in the role of “strong one,” and now you’re not allowed to drop the ball, break down, or even pause for breath.

Let’s be honest: strength looks different when you’re living life in the middle.

Take Susan, a reader who emailed last week. She’s 47, working full-time, raising two teens, and caring for her 78-year-old father who has dementia. Last Wednesday, she forgot it was “wear-your-college-shirt day” for her daughter’s school spirit week and also missed her dad’s pharmacy pickup.

That night, her husband asked why she was being so “short” at dinner.

She didn’t yell. She didn’t cry. She went to the garage and sat in her car for 26 minutes in silence. It was the only place she could be alone.

And there it is.

That “strength” people keep praising? It’s often exhaustion in disguise.

So this week, let’s change the narrative.

Being strong doesn’t mean:

• Saying yes to everything

• Holding it all in

• Doing it all without complaint

Being strong can mean:

• Delegating the prescription refill

• Asking your sibling to finally step up

• Ordering takeout three nights in a row

• Taking 10 minutes to do nothing — and not feeling guilty

It also means breaking the myth that you have to be the fixer, the organizer, the emotional glue — every single day.

You don’t.

You’re allowed to have limits. To drop the ball. To say, “This is too much today.”

Here are a few reads this week to remind you that strength isn’t about being invincible — it’s about being real.

📰 4 Reads Worth Your Time

1. The Courage to Say “I Need Help”
👉 https://www.thecaregiverspace.org/the-most-courageous-self-care-act-learning-to-say-i-need-help

2. You’re Not Lazy — You’re Overloaded
👉 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-moment-youth/202212/executive-dysfunction-burnout-and-how-overwhelm-affects-us

4. Family Meetings That Actually Work
👉 https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/6-steps-to-a-powerful-family-meeting/

5. Burnout - the secret to unlocking the stress cycle
   https://amzn.to/4cyiiCu

💡 This Week’s Tool: “What Can I Let Go Of?” Guide

🎯 Printable 1-pager → Download for $9.99
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💬 Talk to Me

What’s one thing you’ve been pretending you're fine about — but really you’re not?
Hit reply. No filter needed. I read every word.

—Brian

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