The school group chat started before I’d had coffee and I resented all of them

Dear Delyara, 7:06 a.m. and already three parents were discussing snacks, one was asking about drop-off times, someone else had remembered a costume day I had completely forgotten, and another mother had posted a long voice note I did not have the emotional energy to listen to before my first sip of coffee. I stared at the phone and felt immediate, unreasonable resentment. Not because they were bad people. Because I was not ready yet. My eyes were barely open, the children were still looking for socks, and the day had already begun entering me through too many doors. I wanted ten quiet minutes to become a person before becoming an administrator. I did eventually listen, reply, and sort out what needed sorting. But I am writing this because there is such a specific kind of modern exhaustion in being digitally reachable by the practical lives of other people before you have even properly arrived in your own kitchen.