How do we balance it all?
It's happened. I’ve been bitten by the running bug. I am less than three weeks out from running my first half marathon and I’m already eyeing the next race(s) to put on the calendar. As an update for those of you who read my first running blog back in August, I’ve run now over 200 miles since I started in July and am prepping to run my final 12-mile long run of this training block in a few days. As I suspected, there have been more tears from frustration, pain, and pure ecstatic joy! Last week I even ran in a team mascot costume (Go Greywolves!) because it was “only 8” miles. Only 8 – who even am I?
Looking back over the past 16 weeks, running has completely changed the cadence of my life. I have gone from a stay up until 2am person to a get up at 5:30am person – turns out you can’t really be both, I tried. I now spend a significant amount of time thinking about what fuel to put into my body and an even more significant amount of time actually consuming it. My social calendar is planned around my long runs, regularly turning down happy hours because I am running the next day. In the beginning, I felt like I was giving up a lot of personal autonomy and missing out on so many fun things just to be a mediocre runner. What I am learning though, is that I’m not giving up things – I am pouring into a better version of me.
When I started considering training to run a full marathon, my training team coaches, two of whom are women about my age with careers and kids, cautioned me about the time commitment I would be signing up for. They talked about the work it takes to balance it all – adding multi-hour long runs, strength training, and nutrition management into an already hectic life without forgoing things that bring you joy like family and friends and college football (O-H). It got me thinking about the organizations we work with. From the staff that is already at or over capacity and trying to figure out how to handle the next thing coming their way, to EDs, CEOs, CFOs, and boards simply trying to keep the ship moving forward as the funding waters run dry. How do you balance it all?
I saw this post from Jenna, a Canadian running coach I follow on Instagram, where she talks about this very thing. The last line of her post really stuck with me, “…instead of asking ‘how do I balance it all?’ try asking ‘what am I willing to prioritize right now?’”
Sometimes, we simply can’t do it all and trying to may result in nothing getting done well. When your calendar is full, it is full and you have to begin to make decisions about what is most important. Sometimes, as Sarah Milston wrote about recently, that looks like pouring into a better version of you. It could also look like delegating, saying no, or establishing priorities for this moment. There are myriad ways to help make these decisions such as visiting your strategic plan or action plan to look at goal alignment, doing a cost benefit analysis, or considering the impact and urgency of the items before you.
As I prepare to run my race in a couple of weeks and consider what’s next, I acknowledge that while I have time on these long runs to find many similarities between this running journey and the work I do here at The Spark Mill, there are, of course, major differences. I have chosen to put myself through this and can choose not to tomorrow. The obstacles I face – bad weather on race day, a nagging knee injury, missing a happy hour…they impact me. And they pale in comparison to obstacles that many of our clients are currently facing – the gutting of federal funding that help ensure thousands of folks have the most basic of needs like roofs over their heads, food to eat, and access to medical care. So, those of you who are just trying to hold it all together and make 1+1=1,000 – hang in there and know we see you and are here for you however we can help.
(pic attribution) Cheryl Groce Wright – the best HMTT head coach, ever!