Originally reported on 26 September 2026 by Mothership and The Straits Times.
Honesty note: The opening character in this story is illustrative, drawn from the patterns in the real reporting. She is not a real named person.
She wakes before her children, before her mother, before the sun has decided what kind of day it will be. She packs lunches, checks homework, reminds her mother to take her medicine, answers a work email while the kettle boils, and then — because there is always a “then” — she drives her mother to a medical appointment before heading to the office, already late, already tired.
She is the woman in the middle of everything. Not the youngest, not the oldest, but the hinge on which two generations turn. At work, she is competent and calm. At home, she is the scheduler, the cook, the nurse, the peacemaker, the emergency contact for everyone. She is also, quietly, exhausted. Not the dramatic kind of exhausted that makes a good story. The ordinary kind, where you fall asleep on the sofa at 9pm with your phone still in your hand and wake up feeling like you never slept at all.
What she notices, when she is honest with herself, is that she has stopped having a life that belongs only to her. Her hobbies are “someday.” Her friends are people she texts “we must catch up soon” and means it, every time, and never does. Her own health appointments are the ones she reschedules. She tells herself this is just what women do, what daughters do, what mothers do. She tells herself she should be grateful — she has a job, a family, a mother still alive to care for. Gratitude and exhaustion, she is learning, can live in the same body at the same time.
The turning point is small and unglamorous. She asks her brother to take one appointment a month. She tells her manager she will not check email after 9pm. She books, for the first time in years, a morning that is hers — not for errands, not for anyone else. Just a walk, a coffee, a book. It feels selfish. It also feels like breathing.
She is still in the middle of everything. She is just no longer invisible inside it.
What Singapore is actually seeing
The same PAP Women’s Wing and NTUC Women and Family survey of 2,375 working women (3–31 August 2026, released 26 September 2026) found 36% of midlife women — aged 40 to 54 — and 34% of women with children said stress, anxiety, burnout or emotional strain affected their work significantly. Midlife women reported the top causes as pressure to perform well, heavy workloads or long hours, and caregiving stress. The survey also found many women would not seek help for menopause symptoms.
Sources: Mothership, 26 September 2026 — https://mothership.sg/2026/09/pap-mental-ambassadors/ The Straits Times, 26 September 2026 — https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/supporting-women-dealing-with-menopause-early-career-stress-among-pap-womens-wing-focus-areas
Getting help
If you or someone you know is struggling, you do not have to face it alone. National Mindline — 1771 (24 hours), WhatsApp 6669-1771, mindline.sg. Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) — 1767 (24 hours), CareText via WhatsApp 9151-1767. If someone is in immediate danger, call 995 or go to the nearest emergency department.
