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Balancing work and home feels impossible lately

3 replies

NourWu · 25/11/2025 11:04

A friend of mine has been saying something that really hit home and I have started to notice the same pattern in my own life. No matter how organised you try to be, it feels like work and home responsibilities keep piling up at the same time. She works full time and then comes home to the usual evening chaos and by the time the kids are in bed she is completely wiped out. I realised I have been feeling exactly the same.
What surprises me is that nothing dramatic has changed. It is just the small things every day that build up until it feels like there is no breathing space at all. Work deadlines, school messages, laundry, trying to keep track of meals and plans. It feels constant and there is never a moment when everything is actually done.
I keep hearing people talk about balance, but I am starting to think it might just be something that looks good on paper and does not really exist when you are trying to hold everything together. I want to support my friend because she is clearly overwhelmed, but while I was listening to her I realised I am in the same place myself.
Does anyone else feel this shift where the normal day to day things feel heavier than they used to?

OP posts:
Pickprecedent · 25/11/2025 11:25

Totally!! It’s a slow drag. One minute your ok and handling things the next minute the same responsibilities and routine seems impossible. It’s a really good point. Nothing in particular changes, it’s all just hard and I guess the tolerance for being able to cope just gets diminished. Me and my partner work full time, I have a commute, two young kids under 5 and I just feel like I’m drowning and there’s very little true joy to anything I’m doing, even the time with the kids at the weekend is spent just hanging out in the house because we are all too shattered to do anything or go anywhere, even to the park. There must be a better way. Is it part time I often wonder!

ZoggyStirdust · 25/11/2025 11:29

I’m feeling similar
work has been busy meaning I’m doing long hours. I’ve not met with friends for a while, I’ve neglected a hobby I have, and not spent time with my partner so all of those are now putting me under pressure. Something has to give and I think I’ll have to give up the hobby so that I see more of my oartner

Namechange13101 · 25/11/2025 13:00

nothing to add except solidarity, 2 primary aged kids, working 32 hours a weeks, school runs, extra curriculars, life admin, house admin, car admin and then the usual daily routine of cooking and cleaning. I'm lucky to have a husband who helps to share the load (he works fulltime to) but have come to accpet that sometimes life is really busy and we have to make a massive effort to carve out time for us, even if that means scheudling it into our calendar! I think its just the times that we live in, and depsite it often feeling like we are the only ones in that situation I find that all m,y friends are in the same situation, even those without kids!

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