People are so quick to be understanding of physical illness- headache, flu, cold etc yet people still struggle to show the same empathy and understanding for mental illness or invisible illness – maybe because it is not something they have suffered and so they do not understand that when we say we are tired we do not mean tired in the same way as them, at one point in our lives we knew what normal tired was and most of us I’m sure would give anything to feel that again, instead of this exhausting version that leaves us pondering the effects of not leaving our bed at all and for me wondering how quickly that would spiral.
When we say we are tired, it’s a heavier kind of tired, we are emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually weighed down, it’s a heavier kind of tired.
Of course we don’t wish for others to understand exactly how we are feeling because that means you have been there too but what we would like is some compassion, if we say we are tired understand what we mean, if we don’t make it to social events understand our anxiety might have got the better of us that day, our energy levels might be depleted (or spoons as I’ve heard them called, great explanation and analogy, have a google)
It’s not because we didn’t want to or we don’t care about you, it’s not because we don’t want to be invited or included, we just need you to understand we are doing our best.
We have to prioritise our self-care (everyone should in truth) we just have to be a little more aware of it and ourselves, which sometimes we aren’t and brings us back to the above!

Next time someone you know with mental illness or invisible illness says to you they are tired maybe ask them if there is something you can do to help? Even if it’s just making a cup of tea ❤️