The Invisible Backpack
I work with adults who grew up too soon and often carry what I describe as the ‘invisble backpack’…
here’s a quick guide I’ve put together to acknowledge and offer potential ways to navigate this implicit load.
This interactive online tool ( the invisible backpack) is not a replacement for crisis intervention or immidiate support.
If you need immidiate support, please consider talking to someone you trust in additon to reaching out to a helpline.
Here is a global list of helpline numbers: https://findahelpline.com
Imagine a younger version of you, carrying a backpack.
What would have been inside it? Not the school books. The other things. The things that weren't yours to carry, but somehow ended up on your shoulders anyway.
Select everything that resonates
Emotional weight
Managing someone else's feelings
Making sure others were okay before you checked in on yourself
Being the one who held it together
While others fell apart, you stayed steady. Nobody asked you to, but you did
Keeping secrets that weren't yours
Carrying information that was too heavy for a child, or anyone
Responsibility
Parenting a parent (or sibling)
Becoming the caretaker before you'd been taken care of yourself
Adult worries in a child's body
Money, safety, housing. Things you understood too early and too well
Keeping the peace
Reading every room, diffusing tension, shrinking yourself to avoid conflict
Identity
Being exceptional as a survival strategy
Achieving, excelling, being "the good one" because that felt safe
Learning not to need anything
Becoming self-sufficient so early that asking felt dangerous
Having no language for what you were feeling
You felt it in your body before you had words, and maybe still do
You didn't imagine it. And you're not stuck with it.
It may be worth exploring working together.
Book a discovery call to see if we can work together to unpack your invisible backpackIf this resonates, I can send this information to you as a PDF. Reach out and I'll get it to you.