"In 2017, I gave birth to my son, and also a midlife crisis. Suddenly, my two-hour commute from our home in New York City to my job as an economist at the University of Pennsylvania went from inconvenient but sustainable to the bane of my existence. And my marriage, which had seemed flawed but in a cute, work-in-progress kind of way, suddenly seemed to be falling apart at the seams."
"Perhaps the nadir of this period was when track repairs were taking place on my train line, and I spent a total of six hours commuting, only to work in my office for four. I pumped breast milk in the Amtrak bathroom, crying, because I wouldn't make it home in time to put my son to bed. I not only felt as though I didn't have it all; I felt as if I didn't have anything."
"Not the successful career I wanted, not the thriving family and home life I wanted, and I wasn't even the fun person I used to be, who travelled and laughed and enjoyed things. Most of all, I was So. Darn. Tired. All the time. It's a refrain I've heard time and again from working women, who feel as if they're constantly juggling and constantly dropping each ball, one by one."
A new mother with a two-hour commute to an academic job experienced a midlife crisis after childbirth as commuting became unbearable and marriage deteriorated. Academic rejections, perceived time advantages among male colleagues, and comparisons with other parents deepened feelings of inadequacy. A six-hour commute due to track repairs culminated in pumping breast milk in an Amtrak bathroom and missing bedtime. The narrator felt deprived of career success, family stability, and personal joy, and suffered constant fatigue. Women continue to bear disproportionate housework at home despite workplace convergence, forcing continual juggling and burnout.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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