There have been stretches in my life where caring felt like a full-time job I didn’t have the energy for. I wanted things — connection, stability, meaning — but I was too tired, depressed, anxious, or overloaded to actually reach for them. Some weeks I cared so deeply I exhausted myself; other weeks, I couldn’t access any feeling at all. I kept thinking something was wrong with me because the desire was there, but the capacity wasn’t. What I eventually learned is that this isn’t laziness or apathy. It’s what happens when your nervous system is running on survival mode. The push-pull, the freeze, the bursts of energy followed by crashes — all of it made sense once I stopped seeing it as a personal failure I’ve lived in that tension for years, and I know how lonely and confusing it is to want a life you can’t consistently show up for. If you’re in that space where you still care , just not in a way that shows, I get it. You don’t need motivation advice; you need someone who understand