Dear easy child,

It's kind of weird to address yourself as such, but that's exactly what you are. You are the easy child. It didn't take much to raise you, it still doesn't take much. As long as you've got your essentials, you cope pretty well. You float your way through your home, almost like a ghost, just there. You're quite and cooperative, you're ready to help when called on, you don't typically put up a fight, you're just there. Sometimes you feel invisible and that's okay, sometimes it's better to be out of the crossfire.

I know it's hard to cope sometimes, everyone turns to you to be the bigger person and you know exactly what I mean. Put up, shut up, buck up. It's like that's all you ever here. You keep to yourself as much as you can to avoid possible conflict and you know blowing up will only make matters worse. Everyone thinks you'll be around forever but the truth is, you won't. You want nothing more than to leave your home so you can go off and live a life where you don't have to just deal. You feel you've sacrificed so much of you independence for those around you, countless nights in, days called out, rushed assignments just to help or please them. Of course it's not like they force you to do it but you feel compelled by some invincible guilt to do so. You build this sense of comfortable dependence for those around you and you just can't break the cycle.

But I will tell you this, you are not forgotten and you are not underappreciated. It might feel like that sometimes, you might think that no one sees you, no one cares, and no one even bothers but it's not true. If you didn't cope so easily, what do you think would happen? The foundation would fall apart. There wouldn't be the amount of peace there is if it wasn't for you. They couldn't function as a household without you, they couldn't make it through the year without you.

And let's be clear, you don't blame anyone for the things you've done or faced as an easy child because in no way was it pushed upon you unwillingly. It's something that just happened, as if you were placed in your home to be that person for the sake of others. You may not believe it now, but eventually it'll come in handy, you'll thank yourself for your coping skills, you'll use it in a way that makes a difference for someone else. But in the meantime, don't be afraid to speak up when you need to. You won't get shunned and you won't let anyone down. Nine times out of ten, you'll be perfectly understood.

Hang in there,

Your fellow easy child.