After completing a long and hard project at work, it always helps to indulge in a little self reflection. I am 19 months removed from Connecticut and things have been moving at full speed in Virginia. I have been thinking a lot about the slices of me or rather, what the heck I spend my time on. I like to envision that I have 10 slots that I can fill with whatever I want. Prior to leaving Connecticut, my slots were filled in the following ways:
- father (3 slots)
- husband (2 slots)
- worker (2 slots)
- athlete (1 slot)
- volunteer (2 slots)
I spent a lot of time in volunteer work mainly due the steadiness of my CT employment. As hard as it was to be head of the town sports association, head of the town’s soccer program, coach, head of the church’s deacon council and member of the Inlands Wetlands commission, it was only possible to do these activities due to the 45 hour work week I was able to hold.
Now that I am Virginia, my work life has been reenergized at the expense of volunteer work. In addition, coworkers have had a dramatic impact on my athletic life. 19 months ago, I could only run 2 miles before needing to stop. Within the last 19 months, I have been able to complete 2 half marathons, a 5K and a 8K. Within the next 9 months, I will have completed 2 more half marathons, a 10K and a marathon. Pretty dramatic turnaround. As a look my slot allotment now, although things are pretty stable there are changes:
- father (3 slots)
- husband (2 slots)
- worker (2.75 slots)
- athlete (1.5 slots)
- volunteer (.5 slots)
- business owner (.25 slots)
5 slots always need to be filled by family. That doesn’t leave a lot for everything else. As a result, my volunteer work has plummeted. I have been to get some overlap between the athletic and father sides of my life by working with my daughters in athletic endeavors. However, I am much more splintered overall.
Somehow I need to get my volunteer work back up since I believe in “paying it forward”. So much of me was shaped by the work of volunteers when I was a child that I see it as a given that I should do the same.