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I read every article and news story about working mothers during the pandemic and how not to burn out. I was ready to tackle the pandemic—but burnout creeped in like a slow burn. Everything I was doing was falling apart.
In the beginning of the pandemic, settling into a work from home situation was exciting at first because it meant no commute and more time with my family. I bought a new desk, set up my new workspace and made a schedule for the family so they would know when I was busy with meetings. I was able to juggle my work, client meetings and make dinner for the family every night.
In the summer of 2020, I had more time to work longer hours on busy campaigns. Work started to become very challenging because the campaigns I was working on relied on community outreach that was being canceled because of the pandemic. The team and I had to pivot and change things that have been planned due to lockdowns. We recreated all our outreach through digital means by doubling the social ads, campaigns, conducting Instagram Live events with community members and more. I had to be creative with communication and watch news coverage 24/7 to make sure we were on brand and delivering the right message.
All of the news coverage was affecting my mental health because it was nonstop. Ironically, one of the campaigns I was in charge of was a mental health campaign that included social media messaging that was targeted to Latina mothers during the pandemic. I was not taking my own advice. I was not talking to anyone about my stressors. I was burning out and I was not paying attention to my stress triggers and the pandemic was far from being over.
Everything got worse for me during in the beginning of the year. I had Covid-19 symptoms and a viral eye infection that put me out of commission for a month, and family issues kept piling up. I fell behind on work and could not catch up. Reducing my hours did not help because my problem wasn’t with my time or hours I needed to work. My problem was that I was already burned out. Once I realized that I needed to get better, I started to see a therapist once a week and decided to resign from my job in order to take care of my family and myself.
Resigning was a very hard decision because I thrive in creating strategies, working with a team and creating content. But my family needed me to be present and my body physically told me to slow down. I had to pay attention.
Everyone’s stressors are different, and some may have a slow or fast burn. Recognize your own stressors by paying attention to them and doing things that make you happy. I am filming my son’s climate change PSA for his science class, and that makes me 10 times happier.
