Posts Tagged ‘volunteering’

Before I Volunteer Again…

Posted November 22, 2011 Life 2 Comments

 

My friend sent me this the other day:

 

 

Does she know me well, or what?!

Funny thing is that it came the day after I had said “no” to something and lived through it.

Well, several somethings in fact.

I enjoyed the Advent Workshop at church, with out having to volunteer my craft making skills.

I dropped my kids off with out having to contribute to the baked items that the PTA was collecting.

I breezed right on past the parent volunteers at Grandparents day on my way out to lunch and a movie.

It was lovely.  All of it.  And I don’t feel one bit ashamed or guilty.

Because I fundraise, buy, sell, plan, organize, lend my time, give my skills and generally pimp myself out for the greater good plenty, thank you very freaking much.

And everyone deserves some time out every once in a while.  We all deserve a day of rest or fun or goofing off or blessed, blessed sleep.

Lock yourself in your house and turn off the phone.  Make plans with friends who will verbally berate you if you bail.  Set a goal to watch every Twighlight back to back.  Just stop yourself before you volunteer again.

 

Yes, I can’t say no.

Posted November 4, 2011 Life 1 Comment

I think I have a problem.

I can’t say “no.”  Well, that’s not true.  I can say no, but I don’t do it a lot.

Ok, that’s not really true either.  I do say no, a lot – in my own house.  But outside of my house?  Not so much.

I don’t say no, I say yes.  I say yes to fighting breast cancer.  I say yes to the PTA.  I say yes to the church.  I say yes to Girl Scouts, over and over again.

If fact, I’m pretty sure I go out looking for things to say “yes” to.  You know, because I don’t have enough to take care of inside my four walls.  (Bwahahahahaha!!!!  Ahhhhh…facetiousness….)  Of course I have stuff to do!  My laundry pile, just in itself, is a mountainous task.  Litterally.  It’s a mountain of clothes, under which I will some day die, to be sure.

Really, saying yes to these things makes my house even worse.  There are piles of crafting crap here, and heaps of pink stuff over there.  I ignore that laundry until it’s absolutely unavoidable.

 

See, my fundraising crafts runeth over.

 

See, the issue is that I like doing these things.  I like to be involved and to help out.  I don’t want to give up any of these activities.   Hopefully my kids see how rewarding it is to give time.  Hopefully I’m doing a lot of good for a lot of others.  Hopefully it’s not to the detriment of my own house too much.  Hopefully my husband won’t die in the Laundry Cataclysm of ’11.

I guess I just think I’ll always have stuff to clean.  But, one day my body will tell me I to have to slow down and start saying no.  Or, more likely, I’ll just get run down and will want to flee to a beach to drink margarita’s and take in the joy of doing absofreakinglutely nothing. Either way, I know that somebody, somewhere, is going to need me to clean their underwear. I’m sure of that.

How about this – today I will compromise.  I will finish the church bazaar crafts AND clean some skivvies.  I will send girl scout emails AND do the bills.  There, take that limited time in the day!  I can say “yes” and still be a boss!

Pah. And. Dow.