I am feeling a bit better this week. Things helping:
1- We had a great weekend. Perfect = no. But filled with a lot of fun things nonetheless.
2- I have a therapist appointment (well, more like a trial phone call) scheduled
3- Getting enough sleep — which means going to bed earlier
4- Quitting 3 committees (slashing 4 monthly meetings from my calendar, all before/after hours, all unpaid). And a good + helpful meeting with one of my bosses yesterday.
5- *Maybe* having our insurance debacle solved and floor decisions made (it’s true, as much as I do not want to admit the house/moving is a factor in my stress, it absolutely is.)
Future Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1- Actually moving and setting up our new home — and not having to pay mortgage, rent, two power bills, two water bills, etc
2- 2 conferences, one virtual (meh) and one in person (yay)
3- Travel this summer. Even if we don’t make the April trip work (maybe it will become our Spring Break trip in 2023?), I am really set on going to New England this summer (VT, NH, etc — similar to Kae‘s trip last year!). We will be there for my college reunion and now I’m thinking of trying to extend that trip since we will already be up there. Our resident orientation starts the very next week and this had me nervous about the time frame, but hopefully I could prep enough in advance — after all, this will be my 4th rodeo as PD and it shouldn’t be reinventing the wheel every time . . .
(I also just found out we do not have to drop A/C at camp in NY — there is a chaperoned flight from FL. Totally thought we’d be shuttling them – this is a positive revelation!)
4- (Again) improving my fitness. I just started the Total Strength with Andy program on Peloton (I love a program . . . they should have more of them) and am going to work on rebuilding my running mileage back up (yes again).
5- My new neighbors/block. I think my neighborhood book club dream will come to fruition and I’m very excited that there are multiple kids in the same age range as A/C/G right near us at the new house. I can see social things in my future and that makes me happy.
12 Comments
Happy to know that things are looking up 😃
Especially like the point no.4 about quitting 3 committees and having a helpful talk with a boss.
I got home from vacation on Sunday, and I’m facilitating a 2-day training today and tomorrow. This is a training I have done hundreds of times (and a dozen times virtually) so I don’t really need to prep.
However, yesterday I told my assistant that the scheduling was a mistake – too many last-minute needs from participants that would have felt way less urgent and chaotic if I hadn’t been gone. Plus the fact that I squeezed a full month’s worth of meetings into two weeks, meaning that even though yesterday was President’s day, I still had 5 meetings and a PT appointment, in addition to needing to reorient and respond to other things that came up while I was out.
YMMV, but in the future I will give myself a buffer between vacation and big work events.
Funny you mentioned you re-started an exercise “program”…I was thinking of your issues the other day and had the thought that maybe you should go back to Beachbody (or other similar more structured program) because it seemed like you really, really liked the schedule aspect (I do, too) and it suited you so well for such a long time. And YES to summer in New England!! That was just an incredible trip for us!!!!
The book club dream possibility is so exciting. I am the co-founder of our neighborhood book club that we started outside and 6 feet apart during Covid in Oct 2020. We still read at least one (sometimes 3) books per month and it has been the best part of the last couple of years. We also live in Florida so we are able to do this outside and we are literally all neighbors within walking distance. Whomever hosts (patio style) gets to present 3 book choices for a blind vote and we each bring a bottle of wine. We get deep into book discussion and it is not just a mom’s club. I was shocked at how many well read women are in my neighborhood. Changing up the genres has almost felt like a vacation at times. My wish for you is that you find these same members in your new neighborhood. My advice is find a pattern in crime and then if the two of your build it, they will come. 2 is a club even if no one else shows up.
Your book club sounds incredible! I wish I could start something up like that in my neighborhood… feeling inspired!!
Would it be possible to have a deputy PD? Maybe a senior resident, or another doc who is interested in taking on the role one day? That could build in redundancy to allow you to take more time off and allow for the times when you are sick or unavailable.
I have an amazing APD and a chief 🙂 So at least I am never alone!
Good call on quitting 4 committees. Oof, that is a lot of extra commitments, on top of being busy w/ clinical and PD duties! I am glad that you are feeling better overall. I was randomly thinking about you and your insurance issue while listening to BOBW yesterday on the way to pick up. I hope that the insurance issue is resolved very soon. I still can’t believe they made a mistake and you have to suffer the consequences. I also wanted to say that no matter how far a move is, it’s stressful. I was also thinking about your situation compared to Laura’s because she just went through a move, too. But she has nearly complete control over her schedule, hasn’t been on call, and her husband is around more since he isn’t traveling. So hopefully you aren’t using her experience with the move as a benchmark (not that you are – I was just thinking that it’s interesting that you are both experiencing moves but it hasn’t been too bad for her, at least based on what she has shared).
I hope that you can establish a local book club! I started a book club about 8 years ago and have loved reading books wiht other intelligent and thoughtful ladies! A friend and I started it and each invited people who don’t know each other and the club has grown since then. Of course now we know each other super well so there is a lot of catching up that happens at every meeting. We’ve been doing zoom meetings but I am hoping we can go back to eating at a restaurant this spring as I have missed fun dinners out with girlfriends!
Quitting 3 committees! That’s amazing. I’m so happy for you — no wonder you are feeling better already.
I wanted to point something out from your post today that I’ve noticed from you over the years (yes I’m a long time reader ☺️) — you said your weekend was good, but were quick to clarify that it wasn’t perfect. When I read comments like that, it brings to mind the idea that your standard is perfection, but you’ll accept good. And so it makes me wonder if this is part of your ongoing sense of stress and anxiety — you want perfection and see “good enough”, deep down, as a failure of sorts. So then you feel like you will just accept the weekend you had, even though it wasn’t perfect, and wind up feeling like it could have been better. Like everything could have been better. And then nothing is actually good enough in the end because it could have been perfect and then it wasn’t. Does any of this resonate or am I way off base / overstepping? If so, please forgive me!
(I ask this, and recognize it, because it’s a habit of mind that I’ve been trying to break. “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” is easier said than done, but holding myself to a standard of perfection truly only sets me up to fail. You too.)
I can’t speak for Sarah, but this was helpful for me to consider!
Yay for quitting committees!
Nothing like the feeling of anxiety followed by relief when you get to quit something. I gleefully quit an annoying local transport committee last year. The members were empty nester retirees and while they desperately needed a parent/working perspective on the board, it couldn’t be me.
My husband is the sucker who will join the PTA.