It sounds like you’re beyond burned out. From what you write, I think you should take a break from the shelter. I really do get what that is saying, but remember, there are also thousands of animal shelters where you do NOT work, and they get along. There is always more need, but they’ll get more from you if you’re healthy and fresh than they will if you’re there every day but exhausted and depressed.
I’m not saying stop doing this (important!) work, but you have some animals in your house that need you, and you. need. a. break. My advice, for what it’s worth, is to take some time doing the bare minimum while your mind adjusts to the breakup, and then regroup.
We’re just internet strangers, but you got us. There’s a lot of us here with great respect and sympathy for you. Please take care of yourself, as much as you need to.
Any care giver, whether they care for another human of for animals of other sorts, must take care of themselves first. If you are burnt out and depressed, you can not give adequate care to anybody else.
You matter. Your needs deserve to be met, and they should be your first priority.
Good advice. Or as I and others I know would say, it’s an AFGO. (Another Fucking Growth Opportunity.)
You’re an amazing, giving person, as people on this forum are aware. As @Dung_Beetle points out, you’re part of this community and we are here for you as much as we can be.
@Dr.Drake gives good advice: It’s time to take what you need, give yourself a little room to grieve what’s lost and to just rest. The animals will continue to be a challenge, but you’ll be better able to cope with their needs if you take a break from the shelter.
And sometimes, the very best remedy is to just go back to bed and stay there. For awhile, anyway.
Massive hugs to you and I will hope for better weather for you soon, too. I can commiserate about the long gravel driveway – when weather conspires to make them impassable, life’s challenges increase exponentially. I hope sunnier days are ahead for you, in every respect of the meaning.
Hugs to you SurrenderDorothy, it really sounds like a rough time. Please take care of yourself.
If you’re looking for somewhere for just some idle chatter and a little bit of ongoing human connection, check out the weekly MMP threads. There’s a new one each Monday, and it’s just a group of people writing about their days and full of highjacks onto other random topics. Here’s a link to the current one, and a new thread will start tomorrow. People drop in and out all of the time.
The MMP as suggested above are great, big hearted people to talk to and we get devotion to pets. Come on by. You’ll love jane’s Jolene and GG, doggio’s Spot, shoe’s Monkey and their often addlepated human stuff.
I unboxed my new laptop last night. Windows 11 is even more aggravating than I feared. Plus, you need to have a free account at the Microsoft store to use it. It also comes in S Mode as default. This mean the system will only run apps from the Microsoft store. To leave S Mode, you need to go to the store online.
I immediately asked one of the computer nerds I know for help. He picked up my mail while I was out of town. When he spotted water on the kitchen floor, he turned off the valves, put a bucket under the leak, mopped up all the water, and put all the wet paper towels in the dumpster. So I was stunned when he was unhelpful with my new computer.
When I could not deal with windows 7, a friend told me about Classic Shell and helped me install it. Classic Shell makes new versions of Windows act like older versions and has a classic setup and interface. I tried to download it on my new machine. I quickly got messages that my computer was now infected with malware. I ran McAfee (the only anti malware software on the machine) it found a key logger, two Trojans, ransom ware and a worm. I clicked the button to fix these problems. The next screen said that my subscription had expired. It gave me instructions on how to renew. There was a big Renew button. There were no other buttons or any way to eliminate the malware without renewing. I have never used McAfee on the advice of many people. There are better options available for free. I cannot run any of them in S Mode. With a key logger and other malware on the machine it is very unsafe to go to the Microsoft store and it seems very unsafe to enter my email address and password with a key logger on the machine.
I went on my old laptop and started a group chat. A friend said I should reformat the hard drive and reinstall Windows 11. I said that I had no other copy of Windows 11 or the drivers for the new machine. He said I could come to his place today and would fix things.
I had a few paragraphs ranting about the local transit agency. They were lost one of the times I lost signal. Their website has been updated to be even more useless. Their workers remain unhelpful. I lost at least an hour waiting for a specific line. I could have gotten to the station I wanted by two other lines.
Just some advice… All Windows PCs come with Microsoft Defender installed and it’s better than any other solution I’ve found (in my professional opinion). We’ve even moved to using it at my government agency rather than paying for McAfee protection.
I let my Malwarebytes subscription lapse and I’m only using Defender now.
I’ve found Windows 11 pretty easy to use after upgrading from 10, I even prefer it. Then again, I’m not the best judge of what’s “easy” on a computer considering my experience.
Weren’t you in the MMP a while ago? If so, come back! (If not, join us!)
I’m pretty sure you hung out with us …
You’re doing a lot, for lovable beings who would otherwise get no love.
YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON!!
Bought thing I needed at the Gettin’ Sto’ (distilled water, so I can waterboard myself hose out my sinuses).
Treated myself to a buncha things, including not one, not two, but THREE of my favorite yogurt, last on the shelf, too.
Unpacked all the things. Distilled water is in bathroom awaiting me’n’my hot shower.
Cannot. Find. Yogurt.
It’s way too late to do anything about it now - they’ve long ago closed, cuz why would Wal-Mart be 24 hrs anymore? - and now I hafta put on pants and stand in line and beg … will they refund me the not-insignificant amount of money? (Why the FUCK is everything so damn $$?!) tomorrow in the early-ass goddamn morning.
… and I just want my damn fancy-ass yogurt.
It snowed last week but I was away. I got home late & the driveway was untouched. I parked in the street & unloaded the car. When I looked out in the morning someone had turned around in my driveway, thereby compacting the snow & making it harder to shovel. That was the whole reason I didn’t park in the driveway myself (& the street is narrow enough that it’s not legal to park on my side so I couldn’t park in front of my driveway to block it)
Thank you all so much for responding. It really does help to know that I’m not quite as isolated as I sometimes feel. I may dip my toes back into the MMP. I have a hard time keeping up with it!
Anyway, I got most of my “functional adult” stuff done. Washed dishes, vacuumed and mopped the house, washed/folded/put away laundry, cleaned the bathroom, kitchen, cat room, and living room, shampooed the rug, returned library books, went grocery shopping, etc. etc. … all the stupid little shit that just feels herculean this week. But I did it. Hooray for me.
I was considering just taking a mental health day tomorrow, but also, it’s time to pick myself up and get back in the saddle, as it were. But also, time to get serious about sending out resumes.
