Overwhelmed

I promise this blog is not going to be totally devoted to me venting...however facebook and twitter are not the best outlet for me and sometimes I just need to empty my brain of the stressful things so that I can fill it with more exciting and positive things!

This week has been on the stressful side for me.  My car is having major issues (the speedometer needle either stays at 0 or bounces around intermittently among other things) and not only is it hard not knowing what's going on or how much it will cost, being without a car is also challenging.  I live within walking distance of work which helps. I don't, however, live within walking distance of the gym and a few other key places!  Fingers crossed the car comes back to me soon!

We also have a lot going on at work and during the last few days, I have felt like I'm being pulled in a million different directions at once. Yesterday my biggest desire was to curl up in a ball somewhere, but I resisted. I coordinate our student calling campaign for some of our admitted students (which is not always as supported by the rest of the office as I might like), I have a 3 week long international trip to plan before March, I manage technology for our office (which I am not completely qualified to do, so that gets pretty interesting), in the next 5 weeks I need to read a million (or a few hundred at least) applications, catch up on the endless stream of emails coming into both my personal account and the department account I'm responsible for maintaining, misc responsibilities for the student groups I co-advise, oh and take care of some letters of recommendation for grad school that a student asked me to write (so honored to have been asked, another sign that I'm really a grown up!).

I'm also behind on personal emails, text messages, phone calls, etc, so I'm hoping to spend some time this weekend catching up in that area.  I think what stresses me is not the specifics of what I need to do, rather the timing of everything and having other people needing or wanting me to do something when I feel like I need just a moment to breathe.

Some positives from this week include:
I was able to sustain a game of phone tag with one of my best girlfriends resulting in her asking me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding: yay! She and I have been close almost since the moment we met, so I am so honored to be part of her special day.

I work with some of the most amazing students. Their energy and passion can be contagious and they teach me things almost daily (especially that even when I don't think they are going to accomplish what I asked of them, they will, just in their own way).

My alma mater is a pretty special community and being part of the process that brings new people in is pretty great. I know not everyone wants to attend the school, but the reactions of those that do bring a huge smile to my face.

I am participating in my first ever blog swap, for which I am very excited!