My husband sent me an Instagram Reel of someone sharing a conversation with their mother. They said, “We never worried about you. You always knew how to take care of yourself.”

The person continued, “What sounds like pride also feels like loneliness. It means no one ever really looked closely or wondered if the strong one was tired. I learned to carry the weight so well that no one thought to help me set it down. Maybe that’s the silent cost of being capable: you stop being seen as someone who also needs softness. You become the safe place for everyone, but never quite have one of your own. In that moment, I realised strength had been my survival, but it had also been my isolation.”

This hit me because lately I’ve being feeling like I’m being forgotten when others in my family, especially, aren’t because I can take care of myself.