A Follow Up

Last week, I shared with you that I was having some trouble keeping a steady balance in my life. While hearing from other members of my AA group and getting some encouragement from them was super helpful, I also knew that if any real changes were going to be made, it would have to be my own doing.

The past few weeks had been insane. I had people from all parts of my life reaching out for some guidance and there was no way I could turn them down. I don’t do intake or admissions at Northbound, but I will go and see someone and spend time with them during that process, especially if I know them. This is how my past few weeks were – I was constantly going back and forth, trying to help everyone in the best way I could. Don’t get me wrong – I feel beyond blessed to be able to do what I do, but sometimes it causes me to get lost in my work. As a result, I wasn’t helping myself and I needed to be.

When Memorial Day weekend hit, I decided to make changes. Prior to leaving for the weekend, I took a ton of things off my plate at work. Sometimes it’s hard for me to delegate responsibilities or devote all my time to one thing, so I stopped taking on projects and narrowed down my schedule before leaving for the weekend. I immediately felt better, and was happy to know that when I got back to work, that I would be able to focus my time and energy on the one handful of things that meant to most to me and were most important in my work.

So, after leaving the office on Friday, I ended up spending all of Saturday sleeping. This is totally out of character for me because I am always up so early and ready to go. But I knew that after sleeping for about 15 hours (and even going to bed at 9pm the night before) that my body was telling me that I was doing too much. It was such a relief to not set an alarm and naturally let my body do what it needed. Not only was I feeling the mental wear of my busy schedule, but over the weekend, I realized how much it was impacting me physically.

After I finally caught up on my rest, I felt renewed and was able to enjoy the rest of the weekend with family and friends. We had a great weekend, and I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I made myself a priority for the first time in a long time.

Now that I am back to the grind, I feel so much better knowing that I am not overwhelmed. I have even set aside a special day each week for date night with my wife, and that helps us stay connected even when work does get crazy. I am happy to have finally gotten to a place where I can find a better balance!