08/31/2026
The blue folder came home on Tuesday. By Wednesday I had been asked where it was.
Here is what I keep coming back to about September. The hard part was never the tasks. Anyone can pack a lunch. The load is being the person who holds the running list of who needs what, in what size, by Thursday, and knowing that if you put the list down, nobody else picks it up.
That job has no title and no end of shift. Nobody hands it to you. You just become the person who knows, and then everyone plans around the assumption that you always will.
If you are also managing a parent's refills and appointments and insurance calls, you are carrying a September too. Yours just didn't come with a supply list.
Watch for the tell. You are doing more and feeling worse. You dread Sunday evening. You are forgetting things you never forget, and snapping at people you would do anything for. That is not a character problem. That is bandwidth.
What helps is getting it out of your head and into a place the other adults in your life can actually see. Stop being the only person who knows.
And ask for support now, in September, instead of waiting for the version of you who cannot carry it in January.
Therapist matching through CTC is free. Tell me what you need, I'll do the looking. Link in bio.
Save this if the folder question landed a little too close. Send it to whoever came to mind.