I could blame it all on being busy at work, but that's not honest. The fact is, I've been pretty darn lazy over the last ten months, and when I'm not being lazy it's because I'm overwhelmed. Or in some cases, dealing with emotions that I can't take captive.
Starting my new job last July was a whirlwind. Being in event management full-time is exactly what I wanted, and I am so pleased to be back in the non-profit world. Non-profit work, by definition, is mission-driven. I am always emotionally connected to my work, no matter where I am. I need something to believe in that is more than the numbers on my paycheck.
I'm now working at an RELC. Don't know what that is? Trust me, no one does. RELC stands for Residential Environmental Learning Center. In short, schools arrange to bring a group of students to our site. They stay overnight (typically 3-day, 2-night trips), and we teach the students about a host of different subjects - everything from macroinvertebrates and sustainable energy to historical Ojibwe culture and teambuilding. We also work with community colleges, universities, and private events like staff retreats and weddings.
My job is to schedule all of that. After almost a year there, I can understand why my position was created; there used to be two people that were me, one who handled educational groups and one to handle private events. Now I'm there doing both, and while I think it's going more smoothly (based on horror stories I've heard), it also means I have zero downtime. While my ed department colleagues have a season from September to June (the school year), I have the ed season and all its busyness, followed by the absolute busiest season for private events. So it goes.
There are struggles in my job, like any. We've sadly lost staff members this year - one abandoned her contract for a new job, one was diagnosed with a rapidly progressing cancer, and another also fell ill. We also had to wait ten months to fill a full-time position (we're still working on that one) and we turned over our entire kitchen staff. Despite them, we've worked with over 1,000 K-12 students this year, and we have the thank you cards to prove they had fun and learned with us. I'm not sure there is anything more satisfying than watching kids learn.
When the days get hard, I can take a break to check out views like this:
Like all things in life, there is so much beauty and joy inside of and despite the struggles.
