Impending Doom

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🗓️ Issue #176 – May 12, 2025
✉️ Stuck in the Middle News
💔 When There's Nothing Left for You

If you’re like most of us in the sandwich generation, your day might look something like this:

• Wake up tired.

• Help your mom get to the bathroom safely.

• Get the kids out the door for school.

• Jump into work (half-focused).

• Return a call to the assisted living community.

• Make dinner while answering a text from your teenager.

• Nod at your spouse from across the room like two ships passing.

• Collapse.

And tomorrow? You’ll do it again.

Here’s what no one tells you: When you’re caring for everyone else, you disappear. Your needs get shelved. Your joy, your rest, your identity — all put on pause. And when you do have 15 minutes to yourself? You're either too tired to enjoy it or too guilty to take it.

What gets lost first is usually the relationship. Not the one with your parents. Not the one with your kids.
The one with your partner.

They’re supposed to be your teammate, your soft place to land. But lately it’s just logistics, tension, and sometimes quiet resentment.

You know what no one says out loud?
“I love my family, but I hate my life right now.”

Let me tell you something you need to hear:
You’re not broken. You’re maxed out.

If your relationship feels strained right now, that doesn’t mean it’s doomed. It means you’re both overloaded. You don’t need a romantic getaway — you need a 3-hour nap and someone else to handle dinner.

Start small. Share this newsletter with your spouse and say:

You don’t need to fix everything this week. But if you name the load, you can stop blaming each other for carrying it badly.

🔗 Links Worth Your Time

1. A Practical Guide to Not Losing Your Mind
This 3-minute read on mental load and resentment is uncomfortably accurate.
👉 https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12063822/emotional-labor-gender-equality/

2. A Caregiver Burnout Quiz That’s Actually Useful
Feel like you’re running on fumes? This quiz helps identify warning signs and what to do next.
👉 https://www.caregiver.org/uploads/legacy/pdfs/v1_consensus.pdf

3. When You’re Too Tired to Be a Partner
A smart take from therapist Nedra Tawwab on what happens when emotional bandwidth hits zero.
👉 https://www.instagram.com/p/CpP-MtVr8dR/

4. Quick 2-Minute Tip to Reset When You're Overwhelmed
Bookmark this — it’s not a miracle, but it helps in the moment.
👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVA2N6tX2cg
(Video: 2-Minute Breathing Technique from Headspace)

✅ What Can You Let Go Of?

If your life feels too full, it’s because it is.

That’s why I created the “What Can I Let Go Of?” Checklist — a quick-start tool to help you figure out what to stop doing, delegate, or delay. You’ll feel clearer in 15 minutes or less.

🟢 Get it here:
https://briansacks.samcart.com/products/sandwich

It’s just $9.99 — and it’ll buy you something even more valuable: relief.

💬 Let’s Talk

What’s one thing you and your partner used to enjoy together — that you haven’t done in months (or years)?
Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.

Until Thursday,
Brian
Editor, Stuck in the Middle News

Would you like a PDF backup of this issue as well?

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOKS YOU CAN READ IF YOU ARE FRUSTRATED WITH A PARENT OR OLDER RELATIVE

grab a copy here https://amzn.to/3QIhlx7

If you are in this situation I think you will enjoy it!

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