I have been delinquent in posting to this blog the past few weeks. It has not been for lack of wanting to, but rather because life has just been jam-packed and I have struggled to find a few minutes to sit down and type out my thoughts. The good news is that all of the craziness from the past weeks is bringing some really positive changes into my life.
This week is my last trip to DC in terms of a weekly "commute," and I am breathing a huge sigh of relief. I have been traveling between UT and DC for 2.5 years now, and in the past months, I have noticed it really catching up with me and taking a lot out of me. I know that many folks out there are able to tolerate the traveling work lifestyle, and I was able to make it work for the first year or two. For me, a big life event (Peter's mom moving in with us) is what finally prompted me to speak up and admit that I just couldn't keep getting on a plane week after week anymore. I knew that I needed to talk to work and explain the situation, but it was somewhat scary to me because I didn't know what my next move would be. Would leadership be supportive? Would I be able to find a project that I could support from UT? Luckily for me, my work leadership was 100% supportive and understood the challenges I was facing in my family life. There was no hesitation on their part and it was clear that they would help me identify a new opportunity in the company. I didn't completely doubt that they would be supportive, but it wasn't until I had the conversation that I felt reassured I would be able to find something new, and that I had plenty of colleagues there to help me find that new role. Actually, the hardest part of the process was admitting that this is too much and something had to give. I pride myself on being able to juggle different commitments and life demands, and I was afraid of feeling life this was a failure but saying, no, I can’t do this. But instead, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I was able to better focus on identifying alternatives going forward. I think it’s because I realized that taking care of myself involves realizing my own limitations. Otherwise I would have simply continued along the vicious cycle towards complete burnout.
So . . . I set a targeted roll-off date from my current project and started talking to folks about potential new opportunities, and within a week or so, I had a new project lined up. It’s something that I am really interested in and can be supported remotely. Maybe I got lucky with the timing, or maybe it was just meant to happen that way. Either way, I am really excited to transition into this new role and not have to jump on a plane every single week. It’s time for me to be home, not just to help take care of Peter’s mom, but also to enjoy sleeping in my own bed, hanging out with my cat, and coming home each evening to have dinner with my husband. Small things, yes, but after being away 4-5 days each week for the past 2.5 years, I am looking forward to enjoying these little things.
I am in DC this week for three more days and then will be taking a week and half off. It was a previously planned “stay-cation” and it works perfectly in terms of transitioning from my current project and starting in my new role. And I need this time off, just to enjoy being with my family, taking advantage of all that Park City has to offer, and truly decompressing. Even though I have a busy few days this week, I can already feel myself relaxing. Peter and I went for a short hike this morning on the Jeremy Ranch trails, literally five minutes from our house. I did a two-hour trail run on them yesterday but it was so nice to do a mellow hike this morning, enjoying the warm weather and not feeling rushed – even though I knew that I had a flight to catch this evening! I am pretty sure there will be a lot more mornings like this in the coming weeks.
I know that there will still be work craziness and other life chaos, but for now, I’m going to try to stay focused on the good changes happening as I ease back on work travel and get ready for some R&R next week. I am finally feeling like things are headed in the right direction – and it just takes one event (small or large) to trigger that chain reaction of positivity. I think that I’m getting there!
No comments:
Post a Comment