12/11/2022
I think it’s time to officially share a major life change that has been slowly materializing in the last year! I am going on an indefinite hiatus from doula work as of the end of this year.
After 11 years of being near-constantly on call, including these last few years of navigating this work during an ever-shifting pandemic, I’m tired. I really need to spend a long period of time not on call — not checking my phone over and over in the middle of the night, having a cortisol & adrenaline surge whenever I hear my text tone go off, only ever being able to quasi-commit to showing up to anything that isn’t a birth, stressing constantly about logistics of two births at once or being sick or family emergencies or just being present for spontaneous joy.
If you can’t tell, I’m dealing with some burn out. And people deserve better when they invite someone into a deeply intimate life experience where they are paying me to show up for deep, present, radical support.
And you know what? My family, my friends, and myself deserve me showing up with deep, present, radical support — which I’ve frequently been unable to do.
(Con't in comments)
So starting now, I’m not available for birth doula or postpartum doula contracts. I am attending one last birth this month with repeat clients who I am so happy to be able to serve one last time. And then after that — I don’t know how long it will be, or even if I will ever return to professional doula work. I do intend to still teach a handful of group birth classes each year, tho I don’t yet have my 2023 teaching calendar set (typically something I would at least have nailed down for Jan-June by like August of 2022!). I’ll keep you posted.
And I have no idea what comes next yet! Lovingly, please don’t ask me or speculate about a future job/career path for right now. I’m trying to just be a person for a minute.
