You Are Not a Burden

There’s something heavy about feeling like a burden. Like your presence is inconvenient. Like your pain is too loud. Like your needs are too messy or too much. Maybe somewhere along the line, someone made you believe that. Maybe they rolled their eyes when you tried to speak. Maybe they disappeared when you started to fall apart. Maybe you learned to apologize for your feelings before you ever spoke them. Maybe you’ve learned to shrink so the people around you wouldn’t have to stretch.

But let me say this as clearly as I can: you are not a burden.

Your existence is not a weight. Your emotions are not baggage. Your struggles are not something people should have to “deal with.” You are not broken or flawed or wrong for needing support. Needing help isn’t weakness. Feeling deeply isn’t drama. Speaking your pain isn’t selfish. It’s human. And you have every right to be human.

You’ve probably spent so much time carrying things silently. Smiling when it hurt. Saying “I’m fine” when you weren’t. And every time you did that, it was an act of protection. But you deserve more than just survival. You deserve to feel seen. To speak without apologizing. To be loved without having to shrink yourself first.

I know you’ve heard those thoughts—the ones that say you’re a burden to your friends. That you shouldn’t bother anyone. That you’re just draining the people around you. But please hear me: that voice is lying to you. The people who truly love you are not exhausted by your truth. They’re not annoyed by your honesty. They’re not rolling their eyes when you say you’re struggling again. The ones who matter want to show up for you. They want to sit with you in the dark. And the ones who don’t? That doesn’t make you too much. It makes them not enough.

There is someone out there who sees the whole of you—not just the good days, but the messy ones, too—and still chooses to stay. There is someone who will hold space for your tears without needing you to wrap them in a bow. There is someone who will never ask you to be smaller just so they can be comfortable. And maybe that someone is already in your life. Maybe that someone is coming. But no matter what—you must be that someone for yourself first.

You are not a burden for breaking. You are not a burden for needing more time to heal. You are not a burden for saying, “I need help,” or “I’m not okay,” or “Can you just stay with me for a while?” That is not weakness. That is bravery. That is strength in its rawest form.

Please don’t measure your worth by how easy you are to carry. You are not here to be convenient. You are here to be real. To be whole. To be alive in all your complexity. And that will never be too much for the right people.

You are worthy of love even on your lowest days. You are worthy of kindness even when you can’t offer anything in return. You are worthy of staying, even when you don’t feel like you bring anything to the table. You are enough—not when you’re better, not when you’re fixed, not when you’re easier to hold. Right now. Exactly as you are.

You are not a burden.

You never have been.

You never will be.