Refuel #11

🔥 Refuel | Issue #11
A Newsletter from Faith + Gasoline
📅 Subject: “How Am I Supposed to Do Both?” – The Working Caregiver’s Survival Guide

🛠️ Welcome to Refuel

Hey fam,

If you’ve ever had to mute a work call to answer a nurse’s question, reschedule a meeting for a doctor’s appointment, or use your vacation days to handle someone else’s crisis… this issue is for you.

Being a caregiver and holding down a job is not a small thing. It requires organizational skills that border on obsessive. Lucky for you, that’s me!

Some of you are juggling two full-time roles(only being paid for one)—with little room to breathe. But somehow, you’re still showing up. I see you.

And I want to say it clearly:
📌 Just because you’re exhausted doesn’t mean you’re failing.
You’re doing what only the strong can do.

Let’s talk about what this means—and how you can survive it without losing yourself.

🔥 This Week’s Theme: Working While Caregiving Is a Heavy Lift

📖 Verse of the Week:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28

You don’t have to carry it all alone.
God sees you in both the conference room and the hospital room✅✅✅

🚗 Story from the Road: There will be blood🩸🩸

One weekend in March 2024 my mom had a bleeding ulcer. The clots would form and she would spit them out. It was a pretty dramatic thing because the clots would come from her stomach and she’d start moving her mouth in a weird way and boom - she’d grab it with her hand. They got so bad that I would catch them with a trash can. It was pretty gnarly.

I also had been given a work assignment that Friday which required me to have a final product for a trial beginning Monday. So I had a laptop in one hand and a trash can in the other. It was fairly intense.

Deadlines, appointments and big decisions. Blood clots, trashcans and laptops.
Caring for a loved one and still working full-time is no joke.

I look back and wonder how I did it. I only had help for 32 hours a week. The rest was all me. Unpaid. It was overwhelming and I am not a person who resists help. It just costs so much. My brother paid for our caregiver but he isn’t one to write a blank check. It was beyond stressful.

But the truth is—I did the best I could under extraordinary circumstances. And so are you.

⚠️ The Hard Truth About Working and Caregiving

🔴 61% of caregivers also have full-time jobs.
🔴 Most of us don’t tell our bosses until it’s already an emergency.
🔴 We use our own money, our own time, and our own hearts—until there’s nothing left.

📌 Bottom Line: You are not lazy, weak, or disorganized. You’re exhausted because you care deeply.

⛽ Quick Refuel: 5 Ways to Protect Your Sanity When You're Doing Both

✅ 1. Be honest—with work and with yourself.
Let your team know you’re caregiving. People want to help—you just have to tell them how. Or at the very least they will leave you alone about your schedule.

✅ 2. Use every benefit available.
FMLA, PTO, remote flexibility—get in touch with HR and ask questions. Your mental health is a legitimate reason.

✅ 3. Stack your calendar.
Group errands, appts, and calls. Block time for care—and time to recover.

✅ 4. Build a two-person team.
Even if it's just one sibling or neighbor, let someone help you carry the load.

✅ 5. Automate or delegate what you can.
Auto-refill prescriptions. Use delivery apps. Cut non-essential tasks. You don’t need to do everything.

📌 Takeaway: You can’t pour from an empty tank. Take care of you, too.

📌 Next Steps

💬 Let’s Connect:
Nominate a working caregiver who deserves a Refuel mug and shout-out. 💙

🩺 Curious about your own health?
Check out Function Health—the lab work your doctor skips, but your body still needs:
https://my.functionhealth.com/signup?code=JCULP11

📢 If this helped you, encourage someone to sign up for this newsletter! https://refuelbyfaithandgasoline.beehiiv.com/subscribe

💙💙 Community is the new currency 💙💙

You are doing the impossible—and making it look like love.
That’s something to be proud of.

Go be great. 🚀💙
Love you.

With faith & fuel,
Judith A. Culp
Founder, Faith + Gasoline