Seeking Advice on Balancing Work and Home Life

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh, I’ve been married for about 1.5 years, alhamdulillah, and working for nearly 2 years now. Lately, I’ve been feeling really exhausted, overwhelmed, and honestly a bit bitter. My days start early, often without enough sleep. I spend long hours at work in a very busy and understaffed department. Then I come home to cook, clean, do laundry, spend quality time with my husband, go to the gym several times a week, manage our fitness diet, take walks, find time to relax, take care of both of us, and of course, practice my religion and pray. I’ve started forgetting things more often, mostly because of the many tasks I juggle daily. I get frequent migraines and feel a lot of tension. At night, I feel stressed and tightness in my chest, and sometimes I just cry. It’s hard to enjoy anything. I try to sleep earlier every day, but there just isn’t enough time for everything. Even outside of work, everything feels like a checklist I have to complete. I’m really overwhelmed and tired. I mostly blame my job for this, even though I truly love the home tasks I do and wish those were the only responsibilities I had. But I don’t know how to balance work with all of this. I feel fed up, but I also feel blessed to have a good-paying job. I worry about giving it up. Usually, during the day it feels manageable, but lately it’s been too much. At work, it’s just me and one colleague handling the duties of an entire department for a big company with thousands of employees. They’ve been trying to hire more staff for a year but haven’t succeeded yet. My colleague will be on extended leave next year. They plan to hire one more person before the end of this year and another next year. When my husband and I got married, we agreed that both of us would work for now because we have big goals and dreams, and it made sense since we’re young and don’t have children yet. But right now, I really dislike it. Still, I worry about disappointing my parents if I quit. They’re not Muslim and have a more typical Western 50/50 marriage mindset. It feels risky to stop working now. Honestly, I’d love to stay home, and I’m sure my mental health would improve a lot. But I’m also concerned about my career if I decide to work again later (which is a bit ironic since I don’t have strong career ambitions). I know comparing myself to others isn’t helpful, but I can’t help thinking about my mom who always worked full-time, managed everything at home, took care of us kids, and supported all our activities and schoolwork. And yet, I feel overwhelmed just working. When I shared my stress with my husband, he was very understanding. He gave me space to think about what I want to do and suggested we could hire a cleaner and prepare meals ahead of time to ease the pressure. He’s very supportive. I’m not sure what to do. Do I quit work and worry about missing out on my career, or keep working, dislike it, but get some help at home? Another concern is that I don’t think I’d have the courage to tell him I want to stop working. Right now, I help with half the apartment rent, and we just found out it will increase by 10% next year. If I stop contributing, it could delay our long-term plans. I guess part of my struggle is feeling guilty and comparing myself to others. My husband had a tougher upbringing and worked hard all his youth to get where he is. I’ve had material comfort and sometimes feel I don’t have the right to complain about something so normal and expected. Sorry for the long post. I guess I’ve just kept all these feelings to myself for too long.