When youโre at the bottom of your umphโฆ
I remember pouring over parenting magazines, books, and every pamphlet I could find-bedrest during pregnancy after years of infertility treatment offered lots of reading time. And while it seemed forty weeks would never arrive and I faithfully memorized all the reading material, ๐ถ๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐โ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐.
Iโd go through the memorized ๐๐๐๐ง and ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฌ acronyms to make sure I wasnโt missing anything critical.
๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐ณ(๐ฐ๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ข๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ญ-๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ/๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด)
๐๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ
๐๐ป๐ด๐ฒ๐ฟ
๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ๐น๐
๐ง๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ
๐ค๐ ๐ฒ๐ธ(๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฃ๐บ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ, ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ข 2001)
๐๐ฎ๐
๐๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ถ๐๐
๐ฆ๐น๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ
๐ฌ๐ผ๐
And while I memorized all the childcare things, ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ฎ๐จ๐๐ก๐.
The caregiver mindset was so deeply embedded into the very synapses I functioned from that I depleted into exhaustion.
It wasnโt instant, but more a slow unraveling. I totally missed the signs. Maybe because I didnโt know what to look for, that my body had been waving surrender flags for a long time, begging notice. I tanked up on coffee, one large pot at a time.
I poured myself out from an empty cup.
If any of this feels all too familiar, read the slides below to start a plan to shift away from overwhelm and exhaustion.
