Mongodb Atlas FindByIdAndDelete operation timed out

I am using Postman to test deleting a document on Mongodb atlas in a NextJs 14.2.4application using the api router.

This is the route:

import { connectToMongoDB } from "@/app/lib/db";import Employee from "@/models/employee";import { NextResponse } from "next/server";import mongoose from "mongoose";export async function DELETE(request) {    const id = request.nextUrl.searchParams.get("id");    console.log('id: ', id);    console.log('id type: ', typeof id);    if (!id) {        return NextResponse.json({ message: "Employee ID is required" }, { status: 400 });    }    if (!mongoose.Types.ObjectId.isValid(id)) {        return NextResponse.json({ message: "Invalid employee ID" }, { status: 400 });    }    try {        await connectToMongoDB();        console.log("MongoDB connected successfully");        const deletedEmployee = await Employee.findByIdAndDelete(id);        if (deletedEmployee) {            return NextResponse.json({ message: "Employee deleted successfully" }, { status: 200 });        } else {            return NextResponse.json({ message: "Employee not found" }, { status: 404 });        }    } catch (error) {        console.log("Error during deletion:", error);        return NextResponse.json({ message: "An error occurred while deleting the employee" }, { status: 500 });    }}

This is the request url:

localhost:3000/api/employees?id=66972dc9f332a2f854b2cdc5

I have ensured that:

1. Mongodb connection is open
2. The object id param is valid
3. The object id passed in the url matches the _id of a document in my collection

Without fail, this is what is logged on the console:

id:  66972dc9f332a2f854b2cdc5id type:  stringConnecting to MongoDB...MongoDB connected successfullyMongoDB connected successfullyError during deletion: MongooseError: Operation `employees.findOneAndDelete()` buffering timed out after 10000ms    at Timeout.<anonymous> (/Users/imarichildress/Documents/dev-projects/portfolio-new-2024/employee-mapping-app/vscode/employee-map-dashboard/node_modules/mongoose/lib/drivers/node-mongodb-native/collection.js:185:23)    at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:573:17)    at process.processTimers (node:internal/timers:514:7) DELETE /api/employees?id=66972dc9f332a2f854b2cdc5 500 in 10869ms

This tells me that the client is communication with the server route. The failure seems to happening when I execute the findByIdAndDelete method.

I am trying to delete a document on my mongodb Atlas collection using Postman.

I am sure the connection to my db is open because

1. My GET route to retrieve all documents works.
2. My POST route to create a new document works.

I have ensured that:

1. Mongodb connection is open
2. The object id param is valid
3. The object id passed in the url matches the _id of a document in my collection