"Fine" comes out before you have even checked if it is true. Being the one everyone leans on at work has a cost, and it does not show up on a performance review. This post names the research behind that exhaustion, including the Superwoman Schema and the weathering research on Black women's health, and what a different kind of support can look like, starting with one short, unhurried conversation.

I used to be the girl who wouldn't let anyone put my suitcase in the car. I always had it. Now I don't know where my passport is, and I'm fine. Here's what that shift cost me, what it gave back, and why the control I held onto for so long was trauma too.