| First off, it sounds like a very stressful time for you. I hope it all works out. As everyone else suggested, parental leave may give you a bit of time to recover. Your job may also offer unpaid leave you can take on top of that, if you can afford it. Now might be a time to think creatively about how to move forward with your life. Sometimes, I've gotten boxed in by my own assumptions of what I should be doing. When I've been able to take a much broader perspective of what's possible, and accept that my idealized view of my life isn't materializing, I've been able to accept the opportunities that are in front of me and find a lot of joy and success outside of my original plans for myself. And over time, that has taken be way beyond what I could have imagined. Do you or your partner have any family you can lean on? If you're able to eliminate housing expenses, would you be able to take some time to recover from burnout and find your next gig? When I've read biographies of some of the most celebrated people of the past couple years, a large number of them talk about periods where someone had dealt with nervous breakdown. Not saying that's what you're dealing with, but just that mental health issues can affect anyone BUT they need not constrain your whole future. As a father, one thing that might bring you a little comfort is that if the baby is healthy, the learning curve to being a dad is very gradual. In the beginning, it's true that it's hard to come by long stretches of sleep, but the things you need to master are very limited. Changing diapers, basic newborn safety stuff, soothing, and helping with nursing/feeding. |