There’s only so much we can carry.

There are times when we seem able to carry an enormous amount. Work is busy, life is busy, people need us, and somehow we find the capacity for all of it.

And then there are times when something quite small can feel like one thing too many.

I don't think our bandwidth is fixed. It changes. A difficult conversation, lack of sleep, something happening at home, uncertainty at work, or simply having too many things competing for our attention can all take up space, sometimes without us really noticing.

Yet we can still expect ourselves to operate as though none of that counts.

We tell ourselves we should be able to cope. Other people seem to manage. We've handled more than this before. So perhaps we just need to try a little harder.

But there is only so much any of us can carry at one time.

Maybe recognising that isn't about lowering our expectations of ourselves. Maybe it's simply about being a little more aware of what we're already holding before adding something else.

And perhaps occasionally asking whether everything we're carrying needs to be carried by us at all.

You don't have to be superhuman. Being human is enough.