For context, I am about to start a master of occupational therapy. I am already nervous about the idea of working 1-2 days a week while studying 3-4 days a week but it is what it is.
I currently work in childcare casually and having been trying to work full time hours for about a year. I end up working 3-4 days a week and only feel rested on these weeks. The weeks when I do get 4-5 shifts, I feel like a bus has hit me, I sleep usually ten hours a night on days I have a shift and I feel like I can get nothing else done.
I'll probably have to start working full time as an OT when I graduate, which I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do a masters and increase my earning potential in a similar care based field, but higher paying job. However, the thought that I would be doing something different, new, challenging in different ways to childcare, and with a lot more paperwork and such is very daunting to me.
It's not like I even currently feel I have enough energy to do the things I want to do, host friends for dinner, keep up with social events (I often have to cancel), and work out at the gym. Some context, is I do try to prioritise eating well and sleeping enough as I find when I don't my body hates me, is in pain and my brain can't function well. Sometimes, I even see parents who work full time and then go home and take care of their children and they seem fine and I end up comparing myself which I know is kind of ridiculous!!
Anyway, any insight on any of this would be much appreciated. More specifically, does anyone have any wisdom about transitioning to full time work after being primarily a student for the first 26 years of my life?