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Brennan Lee Mulligan

Jess Ross

Jacob Wysocki

Vic Michaelis

Mike Trapp

Rekha Shankar

Lily Du

Zac Oyama

Izzy Roland

Ally Beardsley

Ify Nwadiwe

Raph Chestang

Lou Wilson

Tao Yang

Siobhan Thompson

Tired people do not always need instructions. Sometimes they need understanding. Sometimes they need someone to look at everything they have been carrying and simply acknowledge that it is heavy. Sometimes they need someone to sit beside them and say, "That sounds really hard," instead of trying to turn their pain into a problem-solving exercise.

I think a lot of people spend so much time being resilient that they forget how desperately they want comfort. They become so used to handling things alone that when they finally admit they are struggling, what they secretly hope for is warmth. Reassurance. Gentleness. The feeling of not having to carry everything by themselves for a moment.

So if you have been wishing somebody would stop giving advice and just hold space for you, I hope you know there is nothing wrong with that. Wanting comfort does not mean you are weak. Wanting kindness does not mean you are incapable. It just means you are human.

I am sorry things have been so difficult. I am sorry you have been carrying so much. You do not have to justify your exhaustion or earn your right to be comforted. You deserve compassion simply because you are hurting, and sometimes a hug really is more helpful than a hundred solutions.

If you are reading this and thinking, "I do not need advice. I think I need a hug," then this is me offering one.

A big, warm, virtual hug.

The kind where nobody expects anything from you. The kind where you do not have to explain yourself or justify why you are struggling. The kind where you can just exist for a minute and let yourself be tired.

You do not have to earn comfort. You do not have to prove that things are bad enough. If you are hurting, you deserve kindness.

Because your silence is not empty. It is full of unsent messages, half-written replies, thoughts of people you still care about deeply, and the constant quiet guilt of wishing connection felt easier right now.

You see things that remind you of them.

You wonder how they are.

You miss their presence in your life.

And sometimes you even miss them so intensely it physically aches a little.

But exhaustion is strange like that.

Sometimes a person can crave comfort and still not have the emotional energy required to reach toward it. Sometimes your mind becomes so overwhelmed that even replying to someone you love feels like lifting something heavy with shaking hands.

And I think people who experience this are often incredibly hard on themselves.

They call themselves distant.

Lazy.

A bad friend.

Difficult to love.

When really, many of them are just emotionally exhausted people trying very hard to stay connected while carrying more inside themselves than others can see.

So if you have been quiet lately, please know this gently:

The people you love are not erased by your silence.

Your care still exists, even when your energy doesn’t.

Your affection still exists, even when your replies are delayed.

Your heart is still soft, even if exhaustion has made you quieter than usual.

You do not need to punish yourself for struggling to be present while overwhelmed.

And honestly? I think some of the most loving people become the quietest when they are hurting, because they are trying so hard not to become a burden to anyone else.

So tonight, instead of criticizing yourself for disappearing, maybe try offering yourself a little compassion instead.

You are tired.

Not heartless.

Overwhelmed.

Not uncaring.

I am reading Tim Curry’s 2025 memoir, Vagabond

and in it, he not only devotes a chapter to Muppet Treasure Island, but also references this very post

so, to recap

no, Tim Curry is absolutely NOT a Muppet; however