I’ve really been enjoying the new union committee work that I’m lucky to be a part of. I know that not everyone who wants to be on committees gets on them. For several years, I applied to be on multiple committees and never got on a single one. So now that I am on a few different ones, I am trying to make the most of the opportunities that I’ve been given.
But at the same time, I know that I don’t have to do everything that is an option for me. I am dealing with more stress than I’d like to be dealing with right now and I know that it wouldn’t take too many additional things to get me to a point of being burnt out. I need to be careful how much I take on and I also have to be ok speaking up for myself when I think something might be too much for me at the time.
I had another local communications committee meeting this week and it went really well. There are a few people on the committee that I have known from union service before, but there are also a lot of new people that have been bringing in new and fresh ideas. A big part of the meeting we had this week was related to social media, so it was something I am very familiar with. Most of the committee seemed to be on the same page with some of the work that we needed to do. And it was decided to have a few people from the committee work together on creating posts that could be available to be used when something is needed.
This is very similar to the work that I was recently doing at my old job, and I’m sure I could be really great at helping out with this. But I know right now I don’t have the time or ability to really do the work the way we need it to be done. If I did help out with this, for at least the next month or two I either wouldn’t be much help or something else in my life would have to suffer. I wasn’t going to volunteer to help out because I knew this, but when the committee needed someone else to help out, I was asked if I wanted to do it since this is something I would be good at.
I did appreciate that they thought I could do the work and they know that I have a background in this. And I know it would have been easy to say yes and just try to find a way to make it work. But I am working on still standing up for myself and making sure I don’t agree to something because of someone else. So I spoke up and said that while I would love to help with this work, it would have to start in a few months when my life calmed down a bit since right now I’m a bit busy and distracted.
Saying something like that was a bit scary since I’m used to just going along with things, even if I know they aren’t always the best for me. But I’ve been working on doing this more and more and it’s starting to be a bit easier for me to do. And I’m glad that the rest of the committee understood that I’m in a temporary crazy time and nobody seemed bothered that I turned down the work. Seeing a positive reaction like that helps me feel more comfortable saying things like that moving forward.
And once I am into my new place and things are a bit more stable, I’d be more than happy to help out with the work. I’ll bring that up at the meeting we have after I move. I’m not sure if that will be the next meeting or the one after that, but it should be one of the next 2 meetings. And if there are other things that I know I can take on in the meanwhile, I will. I really am trying to stay involved in the union when I can, but I also have to keep in mind what I can take on and what will be just too much for me at the time.
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