I Don't Do It All: The NP, Working Mother, and the Myth of Handling Everything

There is a question that shows up in every NP group, usually from someone who is one bad week away from quitting. How do you do it all?

I want to answer it plainly, because the real answer is the thing that changed how I work.

I don't do it all. I made peace with that a long time ago.

If you are a nurse practitioner and a mother and you feel like you are failing at both, read on. Not because you need to try harder. Because the thing you have been trying to do was never actually possible, and no one said so out loud.

The work that follows you home is not proof that you are behind. It is proof that the job was built to need more hours than it pays for, and you have been covering the gap at your kitchen table after the kids go to bed.