Tag Archives: balance

Finding A Balance With My Committee Work (or Not Volunteering For Everything)

Posted on March 10, 2022 | Comments Off on Finding A Balance With My Committee Work (or Not Volunteering For Everything)

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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Default ThumbnailUnion Committee Work (or Continuing To Be More and More Involved In My Union) Default ThumbnailContinuing With My Union Committee Service (or I’m Still So Grateful These Are Done Over Zoom) Default ThumbnailFinding A Work/Life Balance (or Preparing to Not Be Unemployed) Default ThumbnailGetting More Union Meetings In (or I’m Grateful These Are Done On Zoom) Default ThumbnailLots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Working Evening (or Doubling Up On Live Streams)

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Working On A Work/Life Balance (or Almost Repeating A Recent Monthly Challenge)

Posted on April 1, 2021 | Comments Off on Working On A Work/Life Balance (or Almost Repeating A Recent Monthly Challenge)

I know I say something like this every year, but I can’t believe we are a quarter of the way through 2021 already! I hope that as the year progresses, things continue to get safer and soon the pandemic will be a thing of the past. And while the first quarter of the year wasn’t perfect, it was an improvement over a lot of last year.

And while things aren’t open up completely just yet and I’m still trying to be careful and cautious, my monthly challenge for last month was to work on planning more things that I can do. Being home and being isolate is good for health reasons, but my mental health suffered a lot. I know that the sacrifice was worth it because I didn’t get sick, but trying to plan ahead is important and gives me something to look forward to. I didn’t end up doing too much this past month to be a bit more social, but it was better than it has been before. Even just having time to hang out with friends has been good. And going to things like the Drive-In Drag show has made life much more interesting lately. But I’m still trying to find things to do to fill up my free time. I know that I might feel a bit better about doing things once I’m considered fully vaccinated (which is really only a few days away). I’m starting to take some more chances with being social, and I need to allow myself to do that while also being aware of what risks I’m taking.

And since I’m trying to find more fun things to do in my life, I need to work on really finding what time I have to use for free time. I’m not working a ton, but I’m working more than I have lately. I will be having a slight reduction of hours at one job, but I’ve increased my hours at my other and I might be starting back at my old customer service job this month! If I’m back at my old job, it won’t be the same hours I used to work. I will actually be working around the hours for my new customer service job. But that will make my hours seem very close to what they were before the pandemic (with the exception of working on Mondays now with the new job).

With all of my work being done from home and one job being completely on my own time, it’s really easy for me to feel like I’m working a lot longer than I really am. If I work from 9-3 as set hours for my customer service jobs, goof around on my computer for an hour or two, work on my blog post for the next day, and then do 2 hours for my last job, it can feel like I worked from 9am-7pm even though I didn’t. I want to find a clear delineation between work time and fun time. Even if fun time is just reading a book or watching tv, I want to feel like my time is mine and I am not trying to finish up some work stuff later.

So that’s exactly what my challenge is for this month. I want to find a way to separate that time. I want to be planning for what hours I’m really working and what hours I’m not. This is similar to the scheduling challenge I recently did, but I’m putting more of a focus on what hours I’m working more than an overall schedule. I need to figure out what my real work schedule is. I know it’s not as many hours as it seems because I am mixing up fun time and work time. I need to be in more of a habit of having my own personal office hours and being able to walk away when I’m done.

I will say that one thing that is working in my favor is that I only do work stuff on my computer. I do have the ability to do some of it on my phone or my iPad and I do have my work email on my phone (in case I need to be reached), but I don’t work unless I’m on my computer. Part of this is because it’s not easy to work on a smaller screen or not have a keyboard. But it’s also nice to know that other devices are not for work and that I can relax while I’m on them.

I will probably do a lot of the same stuff I did with my scheduling challenge. I’m still not sure if having a paper schedule is better than a digital one, but I’ve been playing around with it. And while I won’t know for sure if I’m going to start back at my old job just yet, I’m going to schedule as if I am (it’s only going to be 2 hours a day when I return). And if I’m done with work stuff early because I didn’t need that time, that’s fine. I’d rather have too much work time scheduled than not enough.

Hopefully, this will make things a bit better for me and I won’t feel like I never step away from work. I want to have a balance with my time. Even though I’m not filling up my free time with a lot right now, I know that more is coming back into my life. And I’m continuing to prepare for that time to be here!

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Finding Balance (or My Word For 2020)

Posted on January 2, 2020 | Comments Off on Finding Balance (or My Word For 2020)

I’ve been enjoying setting a word for the year over the past few years. They seem to work well as an idea for a theme for the year and they usually help me discover new things about myself. But these words also seem to be decided as a reaction to the past year’s word. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not, but it’s the way that it’s been happening. And my word for 2020 was chosen because of how I feel after my word for 2019.

My word for 2020 is balance.

I picked this word for so many reasons. First, I liked the idea of how the year 2020 looks balanced to me and it seemed like a fitting word. That’s not the main reason I picked it, but it did help me when I was narrowing some options down.

The most important reason why I picked balance as my word for the year is it is something I have struggled to find in so many aspects of my life and I need to work on figuring out. I have struggled to find balance both physically and mentally. I feel like I write about having highs and lows so often and it usually is about how I’m not balanced in my life.

I want my schedule to be more balanced. I go through phases of being overscheduled and overwhelmed and then those lead to times of being bored and feeling isolated. I need to figure out a healthy balance of being an extrovert and an introvert so that I don’t have those swings back and forth.

I want my finances to be more balanced. This is related to my goals of working on my budget and job-hunting, but I can also do things besides that. I need to work on being more aware of exactly how much money I am making and what it needs to go toward every month. I don’t want to have to stress out about paying for things, but I also know that I can’t do everything I want to do. I don’t have that much financial freedom, but I have more freedom than I have had before and I want to make sure I don’t mess that up.

I want my physical self to be more balanced. I know my eating disorder is not necessarily something I can control, but I can find more areas where I can control it. I feel like my workouts have been a huge tool in finding balance, but I can find ways to include food into that too.

And the reason why I originally thought of having balance as my word for 2020 is because of how I felt after having trust as my word last year. I wrote how I might have trusted people too much and that led to me being hurt. I need to find the balance between being open and allowing others into my life but also not giving people trust they haven’t earned yet. This isn’t easy to do because in order to allow for relationships to grow I have to take a leap of faith and give them trust. I can’t only trust someone when they have shown they deserve it. But I also can be a bit more cautious and wait a bit before trusting someone as much as I have in the past. Hopefully, I won’t be putting trust in people that don’t deserve it as much this year as I did last year, but I think being able to know when to give trust has to come from finding a balance in the relationship.

I’m excited about this being my word for the year. Whenever I choose a word, I have an idea of what it will mean for the year and what will come from it. But then at the end of the year, I’m always surprised by what growth I have made in my life because of it. Right now, I think of balance as one thing. By December 31st, I will probably think of it as something different. And the lessons that I learn because I focus on finding balance will be things that I can’t imagine just yet. But I know they will be good and I can’t wait to share in a year what happened.

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Getting Back To Better Food (or Finding My Own Balance)

Posted on June 11, 2015 | Comments Off on Getting Back To Better Food (or Finding My Own Balance)

After having so many days of “bad” food days, I knew I needed to get myself back in gear. If I didn’t, I would easily regain all the weight I had worked so hard to lose (plus some). I’ve been in this cycle for years (or decades) and I know that it won’t end on its own. I have to be proactive.

I’ve been trying to figure out what would be the best way to get back on track. I tried doing the diet plan from the cleanse again but that wasn’t working. I was feeling really sick and I couldn’t figure out what was causing it.

I also tried going back to my weekly meal prep, but whenever I did I felt like I wasn’t totally into it and found that I wasn’t satisfied with my meals. So I would eat something else (like take-out) or after my meal I would still eat something else.

I think that it is so hard for me to find a “normal” diet because I’ve never really had one. Even as a kid and teenager I had food issues. So normal is completely abnormal to me.

But I have to find my own normal. So I’ve been working on that this week. I’ve been doing research on food options and seeing what seems most likely for me to follow.

Basically, I’m back to a similar plan to the cleanse with many modifications. I’m trying to just have fruit for breakfast. I was hungry at the beginning because I’ve gotten used to bigger breakfasts (usually a waffle with peanut butter), but I’m starting to feel more comfortable just having fruit in the morning. On Mondays when I have a morning workout I might have something more substantial, but on non-workout mornings I’m good with just fruit.

Lunches are a bit more varied. I’ve had sandwiches, apples with cheese, or a microwave meal (I’m trying to stick with the more organic ones even though I know those still aren’t ideal). Basically lunch needs to be something that is quick to put together and easy to eat. And hopefully something that I can put down and continue eating later if I get a call from a customer at work.

On workout days, I sometimes have a snack after work. Usually those are pre-packaged individual serving bags of cashews. Those help keep me from feeling too hungry or light-headed during my workout.

Dinners are still a struggle. I know better options for take out that I can get if necessary, but I’m really trying to make more dinners at home (especially on nights that I’m not working out or going somewhere). I’m doing a lot of rice bowls with either beans and veggies or a veggie burger on top. Those aren’t bad options, but I’m hoping to figure out something else besides rice bowls that I like to make for dinner (and don’t make me wish I had something else).

These are baby steps in the right direction, but at least they are on the right direction. I’m hoping that I’m finally able to find a balance that works for me in the long-term and doesn’t just feel like a quick fix (like everything has in the past).

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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Awards Season (or I Have No Idea How I Can Watch All The Movies)

Posted on January 14, 2013 | 2 comments

This is my first awards season as a SAG-AFTRA actor. This means I get to vote for the SAG Awards this year.

And since I get to vote, I have to see all the movies in order to make an educated vote. SAG-AFTRA actors are invited to screenings (like I went to for “Lincoln”), get free iTunes movie rentals, have free movies passes, and my favorite is getting DVD screeners.

This year, I got these three movies as DVDs:IMG_1257 IMG_1262 IMG_1249

Since I had seen “Les Miserables” in theaters, I don’t have to watch it again, but I definitely want to. I watched my “Silver Linings Playbook” DVD when I was babysitting over the weekend. And I went to a SAG Foundation screening of “Argo” on Sunday morning which had a Q&A with Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, and Bryan Cranston before the screening.

But I still have a bunch of other movies to watch, mainly my iTunes rentals. I have at least 5 that I feel I need to watch in order to be able to vote fairly.

But with only 1 day off a week (which is now Monday, but that’s a blog post for another day), I don’t know when I’ll have time to watch them. I’m planning on trying to watch at least 2 movies tomorrow.

I know that this is a total first world problem and I sound like a spoiled kid (too many free movies to watch, poor me), but it just bring back my issues with creating a work/life balance.

It is a reminder to me that I need to figure out a new way to get through this time in my life where my work is not my career yet.

But when I was watching the Golden Globes last night, I was reminded that it can be possible to make acting my work and career. I need to stick it out and not give up yet.

Who knows, this struggling time could be the perfect thing to say in my award acceptance speech one day?

😉

 

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Work

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Finding A Work/Life Balance (or Preparing to Not Be Unemployed)

Posted on December 28, 2012 | 4 comments

When I was hired at my current day job, I was informed that it was seasonal. The job went from May until October, had October and the beginning of November off, came back before Thanksgiving, and ended just after New Years. I was a little concerned on what my financial situation would be like from January to May, but once I understood how much I’d receive in unemployment benefits I calmed down a bit.

Working 6 days a week every week leaves very little social time. When you get out of work at 9pm (8:30pm now) and sometimes have to be at work at 9am the next day, you just want to go home and sleep. I couldn’t attend anything at The Actors’ Network since everything there pretty much happened during my work hours. I had the same problem with Women in Film events. But I was ok with that because I would have all the time I needed to attend these events during my (f)unemployment (as my friends referred to it).

But now, it seems pretty sure that the job is going to be year round and not seasonal anymore. There is a chance that this could change because they’ve never kept my office open year round in the history of the company. They might decide that we aren’t work the cost.

But if we are year round, I need to find a way to have a life and work too. I pay for my memberships at The Actors’ Network and Women in Film and want to enjoy those benefits. I want to have time to see my friends and go on dates.

We’ve been told at my job that on the nights we work until 8:30pm, we aren’t supposed to ask for the evenings off. Those evenings are the best times to work on those days. But I think I need to start asking for a couple of evenings off a month so I can at least go to some industry events.

I want to be able to focus on my career and not just my job. But I also don’t want to risk losing my job because it pays well and let’s me go to all my auditions.

I am starting to look at other job opportunities out there. I’m not leaving my job, not anytime soon. But if I can start trying out another job (maybe freelancing) and see if it’s something that I can survive on, then I’ll see what I should do.

I have no idea how everyone else has a work/life balance. Maybe I’m only comparing myself to those trying to balance work and life. I’m trying to balance work, life, and career. But of those three, I’m not willing to give up any of them (well, maybe work if I won the lottery or something).

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

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