#mental load

#mental load

This year, I found myself on the phone with my sister, going through our Christmas to-do lists. As she spoke, I mentally ticked off everything we still had to organize: gifts, events, food, end-of-year school commitments, work deadlines, and the general chaos that seems to arrive every December, whether we're ready or not. I wondered if it was all worth it, especially as we all had to deal with our own mental loads at home:

We've heard it all before: Women do more in the home. They spend more time cooking, cleaning, planning, and caring for children.

11:29 A.M. That's the exact time my phone rang on the first day of school. It was the school nurse. My child had been "back to school" after a long summer break for precisely two hours and 29 minutes before he needed me again. He had an ear infection, and his ear was draining fluid. "I'll be right there," I heard my cheery mom voice telling the nurse. Inside, of course, I died a little.

I'm absorbing a lot of criticism and I'm not really allowed to give my own. I'm a sounding board for everyone's emotions but I need to be reserved in my own until I know how you're going to feel about them. I'm pushing forward and supporting you whenever and however I can. I barely even have my own thoughts unless you say it's okay.

'Oh, what's on it, you ask? Well, 'Bear or Bunny Day,' bringing in a stuffed bear or a bunny to cuddle with today - Oh, it has to start with 'B.''