Everybody Is Carrying Something

Day 189 – May 31, 2026

I think one of the biggest lies we accidentally tell ourselves is that we’re the only ones carrying something heavy. Not because we’re arrogant. Because we’re trapped inside our own experience.

I know what keeps me up at night. I know where my scars are. I know which memories still know how to find me. I know the conversations I’m replaying, the worries I’m managing, the things I’m trying to build, heal, understand, survive, or let go of.

What I don’t know is what everybody else is carrying. And honestly, that’s kind of wild when you think about it. Because every person I pass at the grocery store has a life as complicated as mine. The woman buying bananas. The teenager stocking shelves. The guy pumping gas. The couple arguing quietly in the parking lot. All of them carrying entire worlds I know nothing about.

That’s incredible. And humbling.

Because every once in a while life lets you peek behind the curtain. Someone tells you what they’re going through. A friend shares something they’ve never said out loud. A stranger opens up for five minutes and suddenly the person you thought was doing great is fighting a battle you never saw coming. It happens all the time.

And every time it does, I leave thinking the same thing, we’re all so much more fragile than we look. And somehow stronger too. That contradiction gets me.

Because I’ve met people who are absolutely falling apart and somehow still showing up for work. Still taking care of their kids. Still checking on friends. Still finding reasons to laugh. Still choosing kindness when life has given them every excuse not to.

That’s heroic. Not movie heroic. Real heroic. The kind nobody gives awards for. The kind happening quietly every day.

Maybe that’s why I find myself becoming softer toward people lately. Not softer in my standards. Those are doing just fine. Softer in my assumptions. Because I don’t know what someone is carrying.

Most of the time, neither do you.

Roger, of course, assumes everyone is carrying snacks and wants to play. His worldview is simpler. And honestly, I envy that sometimes.

Chaos in one hand. Grace in the other.

And me, remembering that every person I meet is fighting a battle I cannot see and carrying a story I haven’t heard yet.