On Learning to Scale Back

Historically, I’ve been a busy woman. As an undergraduate, I would work 40 hours a week at one job, 20 at a second job, and take 20 units each semester. That’s 80 hours right there. Couple that with the fact that I’m a single mom, was very active in my honors society, and still managed to somehow have a social life, and you’ll quickly see how it was that I thought four hours of sleep was equal to a good night’s sleep.

In graduate school, I was quick to take up committee work, volunteer work, and even work as a research assistant to earn extra money while serving as a teaching assistant. I submitted to professional conferences, readied my work for publication, and spent a lot of time with my kid and with friends.

Once I left graduate school, I started my own business. In the past year, I became extremely involved in volunteer work and my community on top of running my own business and homeschooling my son. Recently, my son became involved in the theater community, I started up a new business with two friends (while still running my own business), and a close friendship developed into a relationship. I had to take a moment and assess what my priorities were all of a sudden, because too often, I found I was running on empty.

It’s so not easy to scale back. It’s not easy to say “no” to another committee, to step back from a volunteer project, or to scale back on activities like choir – but it’s necessary. In order to live a balanced life, we all have to step back sometimes and re-evaluate where we’re going in life, how we’re getting there, and whether that’s the best route.  So for now, while I’m running two businesses, I’ve had to scale back on the volunteer work and really choose the cause I felt was most important. Part of the key to being happy and to long-term success is learning the art of  saying “no.”

(And while I’m on it, I’m still training for running 5Ks – I just signed up for the Run For Food race on Thanksgiving morning that helps a local homeless shelter).