Not everything heavy is yours to hold.

So let the rest go.

Some weights you carry without even realising it.

The mood in a room. The silence in a conversation. The subtle disappointment in someone’s tone. The unspoken tension in a relationship.

The emotional labour no one asked you to do, but you learned to do it anyway.

And one day, your shoulders ache, not from what’s yours, but from what you’ve absorbed.

Not everything heavy is yours to hold.

You are not responsible for how others feel about your truth.
You are not responsible for managing every discomfort in the space.
You are not responsible for fixing dynamics you didn’t break.

Yes, you can be compassionate. You can be present. You can care deeply.

As I previously wrote, caring does not mean carrying.

Especially when what you’re holding never belonged to you in the first place.

So much of growing up, emotionally and energetically, is about learning to hand back what was never yours.

The shame you inherited.

The silence you learned to keep.

The anger you swallowed so others wouldn’t have to feel it.

The weight of being the one who keeps the peace at the cost of your own.

You are allowed to set that down.

Not with guilt but with clarity.

You are allowed to ask yourself: Is this mine? Or did I pick this up out of habit? Out of fear? Out of love that was never met halfway?

You don’t have to carry it all to be good.

You have to stay honest about what’s yours.

And let the rest go.