Invisible Lists, Visible Exhaustion.

Parenting comes with lists no one else sees.

There’s the grocery list, the school project list, the doctor’s appointment list. But then there are the invisible lists: remembering which child is struggling with friendships, which one needs extra encouragement at bedtime, which bill is due tomorrow, which boundary conversation with family is overdue.

These lists live in my head, stacked on top of each other like precarious towers. And the exhaustion isn’t just physical, it’s emotional. Carrying invisible lists means carrying invisible weight.

I’ve started naming the lists out loud. Sometimes I write them down, just to prove they exist. Sometimes I share them with a partner or friend, so the weight isn’t mine alone. Naming them doesn’t erase the exhaustion, but it makes it visible. And visible exhaustion is easier to honor than invisible burnout.