08/15/2026
Since moving to my new studio space, I've been spending a lot of my time caring for two of my favorite people, my grandparents. And I've learned that there is a kind of emotional exhaustion that comes from watching people you love experience cognitive changes that is incredibly difficult to put into words.
You can know, logically, that aging is part of life. You can know that none of us get to stay here forever. But knowing something and watching it happen to people you love are two very different things.
There are moments when I feel completely helpless. Moments when I wish I could somehow take away the confusion, the fear, the frustration, or whatever they're experiencing and carry it for them. And then there is the part where you still have to keep going. You still have responsibilities. You still have work. You still have a house to take care of. You still have people who need you. So you hold it together. Until sometimes it feels like the weight of the entire world is sitting on your shoulders.
I've struggled to find the right words for that feeling because it isn't one emotion. It's sadness, fear, grief, love, frustration, exhaustion, gratitude, and helplessness all tangled together. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I'm incredibly grateful for the people in my life who give me somewhere else to put my focus.
My clients have unknowingly given me an outlet. When I'm working, I'm able to focus on the person in front of me. I get to help someone feel better. I get to talk, laugh, connect, and be present for something other than the inevitable reality I'm facing with my grandparents.
My inner circle has done something similar in a different way. You've given me patience when I don't have much left to give. You've listened. You've checked in. You've let me be quiet when I needed to be quiet.
I don't think any of you realize how much that has meant to me. So if I've been quieter lately, I'm still here. I'm simply living through a season of life that has asked a lot of me.
I'm trying to be present for my grandparents while I still have them. I'm trying to care for myself along the way.