Hey friends, Allie here. So here's a wild thought that hit me this morning while I was simultaneously answering emails, making breakfast, and solving my friend's relationship crisis via text. What if your exhaustion isn't from doing too little, but from doing everyone else's job like you're the unpaid manager of the universe? Yeah, that's how I'm starting this episode.

You're not tired because you're weak. You're tired because you're carrying 17 people,

a golden retriever, and the emotional weight of your group chat on your back. If you've ever said, it's fine,

I'll do it while silently rage washing dishes, this is your episode. And I promise it just might

change everything. I mean, overfunctioning is basically the crossfit of emotional labor.

Everyone knows you do it because you never stop talking about it.

Oh, I'm so busy. I have to do everything around here. But what if you didn't?

Okay, let's dive back in. I want to tell you about the week I hit my over-functioning wall. I was coordinating

three team projects, handling my kids' schedule like an air traffic controller, emotionally

supporting two friends during breakups, and making an emergency target run for a friend's birthday

gift. As I'm standing in that target aisle holding two candles I couldn't decide between because, of course,

they had to be perfect. I had this moment of clarity that nearly knocked me over. No one asked me to

carry all of this. I just assumed it was my job, and I was paying for it in energy, in sleep,

insanity, in the tension headaches that had become my constant

companion. It was like I was running a bed and breakfast, except I didn't own a bed and breakfast,

and nobody was paying me. I was just making everyone breakfast and letting them sleep in my bed.

I mean, not really, but you get what I'm saying. A few years ago, I found myself in a season where

my calendar was packed, my phone never in a season where my calendar was packed.

My phone never stopped buzzing.

And my smile was a little too forced.

Like that grimace smile emoji that we all use when we're actually dying inside?

That one.

...