I became a parent in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, returning to work when my child was just 12 weeks old as we navigated complex medical treatments. From the start, it was nonstop.

While raising any child is a full-time job, raising a child with developmental differences is at a whole other level.

The job on paper that everyone sees comes with scheduled meetings, performance reviews, and deadlines.

The second full-time role, largely unseen by others, entails care plans, specialist appointments, and constant advocacy that demands your attention. Managing these two competing worlds, earning the income needed for my child’s care while remaining present in a rigid corporate environment, quickly became exhausting.

Most days, I felt like I was failing at both, and I was barely holding on.

Take a typical day. Mornings were a blur, a race to get out the door, followed by a commute where I tried to mentally switch gears for work before I even arrived. I’d walk into the office feeling like I’d already run a marathon, spending the day performing productivity while hiding just how exhausted I really was.

By mid-afternoon, the anxiety would set in as I rushed out to grab my son for therapy, praying no one noticed I was leaving early again. I often finished my workday from clinic waiting rooms, before rushing home for the frantic bedtime routine and collapsing into bed, hoping for just enough sleep to repeat it all the next day.

Juggling preschool, therapies, and a full-time corporate role was all-consuming. After over three years of trying to force it all to work, the cracks in that unsustainable path became impossible to ignore. Finding a way forward felt daunting, but once I gave myself permission to look for alternatives, everything shifted.

Specifically, two changes transformed my reality.

First, I found an incredible school that integrates therapies directly into the school day.

This changed everything: instead of acting as the central coordinator between various providers and teachers, a unified team now collaborates to support my child in one place. It provided profound peace of mind knowing my son was receiving the best combination of academics and therapeutic care.

That transition immediately saved me hours each week, ending the exhausting cycle of stitching together disjointed care schedules around a rigid career, a puzzle of constantly shifting pieces that had consumed my life.

With that weight lifted, I gained the clarity needed to take a leap: I left my corporate role to launch my own business as a marketing consultant and freelancer. This shift let me apply the resilience and advocacy skills I’d built to fully own my schedule.

Reframing my career provided the breathing room I desperately needed, proving that prioritizing my family didn't mean sacrificing my professional ambitions; instead, I built a sustainable work schedule that allowed me to continue growing my career while fully supporting my family.

If you are currently in the thick of it, please know you are not alone. Finding a more sustainable path is possible when you lean into the support and resources available to you.

By combining a flexible mindset with the same fierce advocacy you already use for your child, you can find a better operating model that allows you to thrive professionally without compromising on your family's needs. You have the power to stop choosing between the grind and your child; you can build a reality that serves both.

About Blair Koorsen

Blair Koorsen is a Chicago marketing consultant and a parent at Black Bear Academy, a Chicago school and onsite-therapy clinic that sponsors NPN's Developmental Differences Resource Fair and Preschool and Elementary School Fair.

Her son attends Black Bear, where his therapy happens right alongside his classes.