Is this normal ?

[tea125]

Hello I am a single mum with a just turned 3 year old. I am a one man army who works 40 hours and does extra stuff on the weekend to elevate my career for me and LO. my child goes to pre school in the day but after they are finished I have to work with them. When my LO was 1 and I went back to work I could cope as it felt more temporary. But now it feels like an ongoing cycle of school run, raising a toddler, household cores, work ect. The thought of waking up in the morning and doing the day feels overwhelming, I don’t get to relax until I close my eyes. I can’t ask family for a break as I use them as extra child care when working. I feel maxed out overwhelmed it’s like everyone friends/family want a piece of me that I haven’t got to give. I’ve started having panic attacks at least once a week. I know my life could be far worse but I don’t feel good or happy I just want this ongoing cycle to end. Even positive occasions I should be excited about feel overwhelming and an hassle to do

I don’t know if this is just life or if I should be concerned

You should certainly be concerned about how hard you are pushing yourself - the panic attacks are your body's way of saying 'enough'. Listen to it. Start building in down time as rigorously as you plan your career.

Teach your child that it's fine to lay on the grass making shapes out of clouds or threading daisy chains. Adult life is hard so take the short cuts and also ask the family - they can always so no but they might say yes.

@Eyesopenwideawake thank you for responding. At the moment I can’t finically afford to swap working with down time. I’m struggling to change how I’m viewing life I feel totally stuck

Can you put off the weekend work? You are going to have to think laterally on this one because if you conk out it will invariably be at the worst possible time.

Take life seriously and relax more often.