It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.

The quote distinguishes between objective hardship (“the load”) and the subjective, behavioral, and psychological strategies used to manage it (“the way you carry it”). Its central claim is that stress and breakdown are often driven less by the sheer quantity of demands than by posture, mindset, habits, and support systems—how one organizes tasks, interprets setbacks, asks for help, and sustains resilience. In a coaching context, it reframes adversity as something that can be trained for: the burden may be fixed, but one’s method of bearing it can improve through preparation, perspective, and teamwork. The line’s appeal lies in restoring agency to the person under strain.