Carer Burnout Is Not a Character Flaw: How to Recognise It Before It Breaks You

When you're caring for a parent, or in my case two, while holding down a job and a home and trying to be a functioning human, the exhaustion stops being something you feel at the end of the day and becomes the weather you live in. You get foggy. You snap at people you love. You stop doing the things that used to be yours. And somewhere in there, a quiet voice tells you that if you were just a bit stronger, a bit more organised, a bit more selfless, you'd be coping fine.

That voice is wrong. What it's describing isn't a personal failing. It has a name, it's well documented, and you are very far from alone in it.