Steven LaChance Blog

I do not know. I just feel like a lot of people are carrying more than they let on right now. You can hear it when you talk to them. Even when they say they are fine, there is something underneath it.

For me, taking care of myself has stopped being a big idea. It is not self care in the way people usually mean it. It is more like maintenance. Like, if I do not pay attention, things get off balance pretty fast. And once that happens, everything feels harder than it needs to be.

When I say energy, I am not being abstract. I just mean how much I have in a day. What drains me. What gives something back. I used to ignore that and push through. I do not anymore. Not because I cannot, but because I do not want to live that way.

My home has become important in the same quiet way. I like it calm. I like knowing what I am walking into when I open the door. That matters more than I realized. It is one less place where I have to brace myself. I think we all need at least one space like that.

I am not trying to get rid of the hard feelings. That never works. Grief, anger, frustration, they show up whether you invite them or not. I just do not want them sitting in the driver’s seat all the time. Taking care of myself is how I give those things somewhere to go so they do not take over everything else.

Most days I am not looking for peace in any big way. I am just trying to feel a little more settled. A little more like myself. If something helps me breathe easier, I keep it. If it makes everything feel heavier, I think twice about it. That is kind of the whole system.

I still care about what is happening out there. A lot. This is not about checking out. It is about staying in without burning out. About not losing the parts of myself I actually like.

Anyway. If you are doing some version of this too, even if it is messy or inconsistent, you are not doing it wrong. You are just trying to take care of yourself in a world that does not make that easy. And honestly, that feels pretty human to me.