About

I'm at My Emotional Capacity refers to a copypasta template for telling a close friend why one cannot offer them emotional or mental support. The template reads:

Hey! I'm so glad you reached out. I'm actually at capacity / helping someone else who's in crisis / dealing with some personal stuff right now, and I don't think I can hold appropriate space for you. Could we connect [later date or time] instead / Do you have someone else you could reach out to?

Origin

On November 18th, 2019, Twitter ^[1] user @fyeahmfabello tweeted, "I want to chat briefly about this text that I received from a friend last week." The message reads, "Do you have the emotional/mental capacity for me to vent about something medical/weight-related for a few minutes?" Within two days, the tweet received more than 17,000 likes and 5,000 retweets (shown below, left).

Later in the thread, the Twitter^[2] user wrote, "PS: Someone reached out and asked for an example of how you can respond to someone if you don’t have the space to support them. I offered this template." The tweet received more than 4,000 likes and 500 retweets in less than two days (shown below, right).

Spread

Following the post, people on the platform began mocking the template. Twitter^[3] user @Jess_D_Ripper tweeted a screenshot from the film Midsommar with the template overlaid on top. The tweet received more than 14,000 likes and 2,300 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Over the next few days, people posted the template with jokes about not answering the phone or sarcastically ignoring friends (examples below, center and right).

On November 14th, Mashable ^[4] reported on the meme.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Not Available.

External References