Instead of saying self care, I'm talking about the self strategy of how to clean things up and lean into what is most necessary for myself right now.” (33:31-33:46 | Shelley)

“There's a lot to be said about burnout prevention or burnout strategies.

“What I would love is if burnout prevention was considered a real component of family planning.” (20:30-20:37 | Shelley).

“You're asking people to take care of other people, but not taking care of yourself.” (11:12-11:15 | Shelley).

Before hitting the tipping point, lean into self strategy and figure out what you can do to regain more time for yourself throughout your day. Juggling the responsibilities of parenthood and work can lead to a lot of physical and mental exhaustion. If you’re not quite at that stage yet, but are looking to prevent burnout, it is important to analyze how your time is being used, reassign household tasks, and prioritize your own self investment. For those already at that stage, reaching out to an integrated care team can be a great help. When moms experience parental burnout it differs from the experience of workplace burnout in that it involves a sense of detachment from one’s own child and a feeling of ineffectiveness as a parent. Mom burnout is incredibly common, especially in places like the United States where there is no federally mandated parental leave for working mothers. Today, Shelley discusses parental burnout, burnout prevention as family planning, and her own advice for already burnt out mothers and expectant parents.

This very quickly led Shelley right into the dual role collision of the responsibilities of being a mother and working outside the home. Her child was born right as she was taking her boards and afterward she threw herself into work, extending her hours so that she could work fewer days. She chose to keep her pregnancy a secret, even while enduring constant sickness. During her clinical year to become a physician’s assistant, Shelley became pregnant. Shelley Kemmerer is a parent, a board certified physician assistant and the founder of Run Tell Mom, LLC.

Burnout the secret