WTF Wednesday: Errr…..Sunday

Instead of skipping a week and pretending otherwise, I have decided to send out my weekly column today. It\’s true, I missed WTF Wednesday. I was cleaning my bathroom and preparing for Thanksgiving on Wednesday. The end of the year is a hectic time in the life of a family and a non-profit. As a woman and a mom, I definitely feel the pressure to make everything nice for my family during the holiday season. As a workaholic with a burning passion for my organization, I feel a similar pressure to maximize the \”giving season\” by cultivating donors. However, I\’m also a third thing: I\’m a person managing chronic illness in the form of an insidious autoimmune disorder. \”Balance\” is not my natural inclination, but now my body demands it.

During this  long holiday weekend, I\’ve tried to strike a balance between work, family, and rest. I have a feeling that many of you who are reading this are working on the very same thing. I can\’t claim to be an expert, but here\’s a few tips:

 

1. Be honest about your time: Learning how much time certain tasks take is the first step and it\’s important to be realistic about what you can accomplish in a finite amount of time. What can you do quickly and what things take you more time? And, if you\’re like me, factor in child interruption time!

2. Respect your own boundaries: We\’ve learned a lot about boundary work in the rehearsal room thanks to our intimacy training. I\’ve found it incredibly empowering to apply this work to the rest of my life. Putting strict boundaries on my time, attention, and emotional investment has made me more productive, happier, and increased my quality of living immensely.

3. Don\’t prescribe your downtime: For us over-achievers, \”winning\” at relaxing and \”me time\” and \”self care\” can be a thing. Except it\’s not a thing. In order to really make the most of time off and time away, we\’ve got to stop putting expectations on it or on ourselves. I like playing Candy Crush while I drink coffee. Or in bed while eating popcorn. I like watching Gilmore Girls over and over and over. I like watching Dateline as I fall asleep. None of this will kill me. And if I get the urge to crack the laptop back open and send one more email…..that won\’t kill me either.

 

Well, Wednesday is right around the corner. It\’s the day after Tuesday and, while I\’ve got you here, don\’t forget that this Tuesday is Giving Tuesday and WTF has a donor who will match $1000 worth of donations that day! Please consider a gift, no matter how small, and help us spread the word! We have a lot of work to do in 2020!

 

Yours in BALANCE,

Johannah