Balancing Acts

I've always had a very tough time balancing my professional and personal life.  Thankfully, I've made amazing friends through my work, but it doesn't always leave enough time to really refresh myself and treat myself well. For the last several years I was burning the candle at both ends, whether it was working and going to grad school, working crazy hours and volunteering, working and working some more....and it finally damn near killed me. My health took a nosedive and it's been a good 18 months or so of recovery.

It's taken 10 different specialists (I might be up to 11), medication, meditation, yoga, therapy, and a concentrated effort to not let work bleed into my personal time (6pm to 10am during the week and most weekends).  I'm happy that it's been working and I'm in the best working condition that I've been in years.

Now I'm faced with a little over a month of MAJOR professional commitments and I'm worried that I'm not going to have time or energy to devote to my personal life and personal practices (meditation/yoga/working out/cooking). On Sunday, I'm hosting a patient education conference in Irvine, CA.  Next Friday I head to Long Beach, CA to set up for a conference I'm speaking at on Saturday. (See below for more details). The following week I'm leading a support group facilitator training. The week after that I'm giving a talk about my job's marathon team, and then the following week I'm off to DC for the annual rheumatology conference, and I'm speaking there too. I haven't even mentioned trying to launch my consulting business (again).


So what am I speaking on (in case you were interested)?


Next week I am speaking at the Arthritis in PrimeTime Conference in Long Beach, CA. I'm presenting with Dr. Maureen McMahon, an amazing rheumatologist from UCLA on the importance of developing a strong community for people with lupus. We'll provide an overview on lupus, talk about treatments, and then get into a really meaty discussion about creating your support network, how to communicate with your medical team, and how you and your doctor can best facilitate a good working relationship. Families and supporters are definitely welcome to attend the session, as we'll be talking about how the support network is bigger than just your medical team and support group :)

November will find me in Washington, DC at the annual conference of the American College of Rheumatology. This Conference is attended by thousands of health professionals from all over the world. I have the honor of presenting with two close friends and colleagues on a novel support and education program we developed for families of children living with rheumatic diseases. The program is the first of its kind in the country, bringing public and private partners together to create a community for these families.

I signed up for the 30 Days of Curvy Yoga class so I will at least have my home practice, but I really want to make sure that I'm getting in some quality time with friends too. I hope that my meager blogging/twitter audience will help keep me grounded and remind me to make time for myself every day, because I can get swept up really easily.  I'd love it if you would leave some suggestions of how I can keep everything together and not overwhelm myself in the comments or via email :)