[reveii]

I just got out of a partial hospitalization program and back to teaching full time. I got all gunho and decided to go for a 1-2 days a week on the weekend to tutor at a learning center that is 35 miles away round trip. I would get paid $15 per hour and most likely just 3 weekends since my husband will be on call the 4th weekend so I have to stay home with my daughter. Is it worth it if after taxes I only get a little over 100? I am worried that I get myself into too much than I can handle. I decided that I really need to go to church on Sundays for my own wellbeing so once a week... is that 100 even worth the commute and the stress? I am medicated but I just don't trust myself in knowing my boundaries because all I worry about is getting out of our financial debt. My husband has a part time side job besides his full time job. I would love some help in deciding if the tutoring job may be too much for me. I struggle with sleep and I am going back and forth with depression and mania since I just got back to work a week ago.

[guilloche]

Hi Reveii...

I'm not intimately familiar with bipolar, but what you're describing sounds stressful to me. You're just getting out of partial hospitalization and getting back to your full-time job, right? Plus, you've got a daughter, a husband, and you'd like to be able to attend church (which is completely reasonable!).

I'm wondering if it makes more sense to back out of the tutoring for now, and first see how getting back to work and getting back to your normal day-to-day routines with your family works out?

Does your family need the extra money, or will you be OK without it?

Can you back out gracefully, or will there be any potential issues with you withdrawing? Could you tell them that you're recovering from a recent health issue, and realized that you may have over-committed, so you'd like to back out for now - but would love to keep the door open to revisit it in a few months, once you're more settled (is that possible)?

Or, if you feel strongly that you'd like to do it, could you try it out just 1 weekend a month, to see how it fits in with your schedule?

Good luck with figuring it out! I'm a fan of taking it slow, personally, and slowly building up the pieces of your life - then adding things on as you want/need to. If in 3 months, or 6 months, you feel like you've got too much time on your hands and you really want to do tutoring - you could always start then, couldn't you? For me, it would be better to do it that way, I think, then risk being overwhelmed and exhausted and not having enough time to really recuperate from everything each week.

I just want to make sure I understand. Did you already start the job? It sounds like you are overwhelmed with this. Do you enjoy it? Have you talked to your husband about what he might want you to do? Though I'd say with this kind of thing, if you are stressed, maybe find something less stressful for yourself. Are you on disability at all? I ask because it's something that could help financially while you learn to cope with your mental health. Hugs.