There’s no time left for you.
No one has any extra time. We barely have time to do the things we need to do for ourselves.
This has, of course, only been made worse by the pandemic. While those who’ve been working at home (most of the time or all of the time) might seem to have some extra time laying around, it’s mostly been eaten up by more work expectations. After all, if you’re at home, there’s no longer any division between “on duty” and “on call.”
And those who have been front lining for all of us over the past year – retail employees, healthcare professionals, factory and warehouse workers, and many more – have been working overtime doing the things that have let the rest of us stay home, relatively safe in our cocoons.
A lot of people are hurting. Burnout has always been a possibility, but it’s particularly bad right now. I see it on the faces in my Zoom and Teams meetings. I hear it in voices on phone calls. I can sense it in the way emails and text messages are written.
I see it on my own face in the mirror. I’m normally a patient person, but – to put it delicately – I’m out of fucks to give.
I’m sorry, there’s no time left for you. I don’t even have enough for myself.