Wow – it has been months since I have written anything in this space. My blog is not the only thing that has been “neglected” in these past few very busy months. There are good friends I have not had a chance to see or have canceled plans with at the last minute due to having too much “stuff” to do and being too exhausted to do it. I feel as if I’ve been on the hamster-wheel with no option for jumping off. Thing is, I put myself there. I have only me to blame!

Refresh Time

The best and most exciting thing that has happened since my last post is my husband, Joe retired, and we took a good hard look at how we wanted to spend our newfound time together. He obviously had more than me – and that prompted me to reevaluate what I had been doing – what was sucking up all my time and causing me the most stress? Years ago I read the Marie Kondo Tidying up book – that is now a Netflix sensation – and I decided to apply the Konmari method to declutter my life.

I took Marie’s main premise – What gives me joy? – and began evaluating how I had been spending my time:

• A lot of volunteering. A LOT. – joyful? Meh. Sometimes.
• A lot of wishing I had a way to get away – travel – joyful? YES!
• A lot of scrambling my calendar around to try to make meetings and deadlines – not work-related – joyful? Absolutely not
• School – I love learning – so YES

I realized, my “to do” list never ever grew shorter. I couldn’t even take an hour to update my blog. Couldn’t relax over drinks with friends without feeling guilty that I was not updating a web page for non-profit number one or sending out a blast email for non-profit number two.

Enter the idea, that came from our ever-innovative CIO at work, of Wonderful Wednesdays This is a two-hour time period, every Wednesday – where we folks that are lucky enough to report to her in ITS, can use that time for personal or professional development. And – it’s Wednesday today – and here I am!

Having just a two hour window a week to be able to relax, take a breath, regroup and reevaluate. What have I discovered? And what have I started to do about it?

I am shaving off the time I have been giving to organizations and people – that do not bring me joy. Slowly, I am wrapping-up commitments to positions held, stepping back, saying “no”, and making room for those things and organizations I truly enjoy being a part of.

Being involved in the non-profit sector has been a tremendous growth experience. And I am not leaving it entirely. I was not elected on to ODTUG’s board of directors, however that left an opening to be placed in the VP role for the Pennsylvania Banner User’s Group. Fate pointed me in that direction, and I am excited to see what the next three years of being part of the PABUG board will bring!

Also – BIG news – Joe and I bit the bullet and bought ourselves a beach-view condo on the Chesapeake Bay at the start of the year. It has ALWAYS been a dream of mine to live on water – and we have made it happen.

So, having my new “get-away” combined with my husband’s new found time as a recent-retiree have been the biggest influencers on my “WTF am I doing with my Time?” epiphany. Wonderful Wednesdays are allowing me to take a breath, and reevaluate what kind of space I want to create for myself and those around me. And it’s looking pretty awesome.