Ever have one of those days? A near meltdown? Of course you have. Mine was yesterday.
Projects and requests coming in via a fire hose. Texts and emails pouring in. Promotions missing details, and on top of it, an article for an internal magazine. Draft due Tuesday. Technology issues with a survey we just launched… the provider was having issues and was on it. No resolution as of yet though. Prep work for staff reviews next week. And I still haven’t touched the things I wanted to accomplish on Monday. Stress mounting.
Definitely a Seinfeld moment… “Serenity now!”
Giving back
Fire department fundraising committee needs a strategy for an upcoming meeting. Due to the nature of rural volunteer fire departments, you do what you can with extremely limited resources. I’ll do it. If I don’t, nothing will happen and it will harm the department and community. I really try to make a difference by giving back. Sometimes at my own expense.
It continues
On top of all that, the last few nights, Clover, our dog, got me up multiple times due to a stomach issue. You can imagine. So with the above pressures… dead tired.
In hindsight I should’ve done more to help myself. Unplug and step away for a bit, get outside, and just breathe in the trees and nature. I was too buried to realize what I needed so I plowed through. Maybe not the best tactic, but that’s what I did.
Sometimes I need to say “no” more. I’m getting better as I age. My younger self would gladly jump at any opportunity to help with self-detriment looming. With full on burnout once in a while. But I’ve gotten better. “I’d love to help you, but I cannot at the moment… would next Wednesday work?” Sometimes I slip up and don’t listen to my inner compass. A work in progress, like us all.
Anyway, onward and upward! Getting organized, reshuffling priorities and diving in. All to the sounds of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss this morning.
To sum it all up in the words of Frank Costanza, “Serenity now.”
