Nearly 30 years ago, I was a 13-year-old girl who desperately wanted to go to Lilith Fair. This summer, I walked into Daisy Chain with my own almost-13-year-old daughter and found myself surrounded by generations of women and girls taking up space together. I thought I was giving my daughter an experience she would carry for the rest of her life. I didn't realize how much I would carry home, too.

We often assume that struggling to focus, stay organized, or keep moving means we're falling behind. But what if our brains are responding exactly the way they're designed to under extraordinary circumstances? In this essay, I explore grief, chronic stress, modern life, and why understanding what we're carrying may be the first step toward moving forward with compassion.