Mainstream mental health often paints depression as staying in bed all day with the blinds drawn. But for many Black and Brown women, the "Strong Black Woman" schema doesn't take a summer vacation. High-functioning depression in summer rarely looks like doing nothing; in fact, it usually looks like over-functioning.

It is planning all the group trips, hosting the family cookouts, and keeping your itinerary so relentlessly packed that you never have to slow down and actually feel the internal exhaustion. You mask your burnout with productivity. But behind that mask is a never-ending loop of "what-ifs," family expectations, and the constant, draining pressure to prove your worth.

You know the type. The “strong friend”, the one who holds it all together.

The one that is so capable… able… willing.

But did you ever stop to think why they are so capable.

And that they may be over-compensating and exhausted AF.

June is PTSD Awareness Month and I want to acknowledge this not by just raising awareness but by shifting the focus away from stereotypical, cinematic depictions of trauma.

I am talking to the millennial woman who feels exhausted by her own mind.

We often judge some of the attributes that I am talking about as as character flaws or "quirks".

Things like over-explaining, struggling to relax, or refusing help.

These things are actually brilliant, adaptive survival strategies our bodies and our minds developed to keep us safe.