STUCK ON A SUNDAY — ISSUE NO. 1
For anyone living the contradiction of wanting more from their work and more from their family — but feeling "stuck". This is where we talk honestly about what that actually looks like.
Sundays used to be one of the most conflicting days of the week for me when I was a new mom. I don’t think I realized it at the time, not fully - but looking back, Sundays represented the day that allllllll my real feelings about work, motherhood, identity rose to the surface.
When my first was very young, the weekends felt impossibly long in that way only parents of babies & toddlers truly understand. By Sunday afternoon, I’d be so exhausted from 48+ hours of tantrums, errands, play dates, naps that didn’t happen - and I remember thinking (with more guilt than I ever admitted out loud) that returning to work on Monday felt….. a little bit like a relief. Like stepping back into a world where I was competent again. Where people thanked me for things. Where I could just sit and drink a latte in peace. Work felt like an escape from the instability of parenting and a place where I still knew who I was.
But at the exact same time, Sunday also marked the beginning of yet another week away from this tiny person who was changing by the minute. My baby was learning new words, new faces, new routines — all with another caregiver, forty hours a week. I would rub his back on Sunday nights, thinking about how someone else would witness most of his day tomorrow. How someone else would see the new thing he learned before I did. I didn’t have the right words to articulate what I was feeling then, but it felt like I was always missing something, no matter which direction I chose.
So Sundays became this contradictory place I lived in for over two years — a tug-of-war between the relief of returning to work and the grief of returning to work. A longing for the identity I had built professionally and a longing for the version of motherhood I felt like I was only living in fragments.
Until I finally jumped ship after my second was born, and started Both&.
And now, more than seven months into building this community, I’ve found myself returning to those Sundays with a different kind of clarity — realizing just how much they shaped the questions parents bring to me, and how much of Both& was actually born from the tension of those weekends.
So this newsletter (in it’s new format) is a place to talk about how the line between work and parenting isn’t clean (at all), that our identities don’t snap back into place after children, and that the tension we feel on Sundays is totally common and normal.
So… Let’s Get Into It!
Since this is the first edition, I want to give you a quick tour of what these Sundays will look like — not just in theory, but in a way that leaves you with something useful today. My hope is that even if you only skim, you walk away with one question, one idea, or one moment of recognition that helps make your week feel a little less confusing and a little more intentional.
Here’s how this will go each week:
1. A Both& Story — Something Real & Something Familiar
Every Sunday, I’ll start with a Both& contributor story: always rooted in that moment we all eventually face — the “something has to give” season of parenting and work.
Your takeaway for today: ask yourself the same question one of our contributors Tara asked herself at the beginning of her shift:
“What part of my current life is draining me because it no longer fits the season I’m in?”
You don’t have to answer it perfectly. Just noticing it is the start.
2. What’s Really Happening Out There
Next, I’ll share the news, trends, and shifts in policy or work culture that actually impact parents, so you can use it to your advantage.
Your takeaway for today:
Pick one piece of news from below that might validate your experience and hopefully soften even 1% of the self-blame you’ve been carrying.
You feeling overstretched? Four-day workweeks everywhere are reducing burnout.
You feeling guilty about struggling? Mothers of young children are exiting the workforce again because the system is inflexible — not because they lack ambition.
You craving a different shape of work? Freelancing is exploding for a reason.
3. Tools & Resources That Actually Help
This section will always include one or two things you can actually use: a question to ask yourself, a script for a tricky conversation, a tool our community loves (at a discount!)
Your takeaway for today: Try this question sometime this week — maybe in the car on your way to work, during a very boring meeting, or when you’re feeling really, really un-energized about a task at work:
“What is one task that is way below my pay grade that I’ve been hanging onto out of habit — and could hand off, decline, or delete this week?”
Your action: Say it out loud (even to yourself). Then take a single concrete step — think about someone else who could benefit from this learning opportunity, delegate the task, train, and breathe better!
4. CHAT Community Prompt — Where We Actually Talk About This
Finally, each Sunday will end with a prompt you can answer in the Both& Substack Chat. It’s where we’ll come together to talk - gather the stories, reflections, and small truths that make this whole space work.
Your takeaway for today:
Join the discussion if you feel comfortable — or just read. Sometimes seeing your own experience reflected through someone else’s words is the exact permission you didn’t know you needed.
If any part of this landed with you, I’d really love to hear from you. Head over to Chat and share what Sunday feels like in your current season — or what you’re navigating in the world of work and parenting right now. Or, you can head to STUCK on our site and submit your own situation and hopes.
The magic of this space isn’t just in the stories I tell — it’s in the stories we tell together. So comment, reflect, connect. Let someone else recognize themselves in your words. That’s how this becomes more than a newsletter… it becomes a community.
Looking forward to continuing this with all of you,
Kaleana
I love your first issue!
Hey, this is great! You’ve captured that fractured feeling so well. I’m excited to follow along with Both&