I work a lot. I probably work way too much. When I took my current position (more than a year ago at this point) I put in crazy hours. Those hours weren’t a phase but a constant in my life – early mornings, late nights, weekends, taking work home, you know the drill. In addition to working I was heavily involved with various other initiatives – BGCS, SwirlPhilly, etc.. Over the last year many of those things were pushed off of my plate. Ok full stop – I pushed them off of my plate. I have to take some ownership of this. I don’t think it was intentionally. I was already invested in the mission of the agency I worked before I ever accepted the offer to join their staff.  It definitely intensified when I came on board. I don’t regret it for a second.

Nevertheless, I think I lost a part of my identity independent of where I worked. Everything sort of blended together and I lost sight of where one ended and the other began. Perhaps I became too invested. Is that even possible? This is not to say that being as invested and committed to our mission is a bad thing, but rather that a lot of other things I was/am passionate about went to the wayside. I really miss them and want to get connected again.

I have been feeling very lost lately and I think it has to do with a lot of lack of balance in my life. I am not engaging in enough activities that bring me joy personally. I know we often talk about professional and personal realms blending in the non profit world, that it seems to be a natural occurance, but I am not sure if that is at all healthy. I think there needs to be boundary. Otherwise, burnout is a surity!

I miss dancing. I keep wanting to get back into a dancing groove. I took a class on Saturday. The Medic and I went out Saturday night to Brasil’s. While I am not going to make class tonight, I am going to make it a point to go Saturday mornings. The dance schedule has completely shifted at Estilo, so I am going to have to go back to check which classes are being offered when.

I miss blogging with a mission. I am blogging with an outdated mission.  Or perhaps I have drifted from the mission and just need to re-focus. The lifeblogging component has always been there, but it has definitely moved to the forefront over the last few months. Perhaps I am overthinking this, but I feel like the TDP brand is no longer clearly visible. Perhaps it really is time for a complete shift. I don’t know. I need to sit with this for a bit.

I miss my Swirl family. I need to recharge our local chapter. I have been so busy with everything else that SwirlPhilly sort of driftet off of that proverbial plate of mine. I am going to reach out to all of the local members this weekend and set up socials for March, April and May, as well as a planning meeting. I hope to recruit one or two more individuals who are interested in serving as part of the leadership team.

While work remains demanding and I am committed as ever to being a part of the agency’s long-term success, I also need to take more time to ensure my personal and professional success beyond the agency. I realize there are only 24 hours in the day – much to my shagrin – and if I ease up on work hours only to fill my plate with other things, I am going to end up with the same result…burnout.

So, balance! There are many things I want to return to doing,but for now, dancing, blogging and SwirlPhilly are on my agenda.

Do you find that your work and personal blend in together? How have you set boundaries in your life to attain and/or maintain balance?