Spin the plates

4/3
When I am just cruising along in life, it is like walking around the house when I am in a pick up the house mood. I walk into a room on my way to another location and I just pick up what is in my view that could or should go in that direction and then take it with me. At the end of the day, stuff is moved from place to place and I feel like I did something without doing anything (I was walking that way anyway). Sometimes it is just a matter of moving a pile from this table to that bed, but it feels like progress. However, in my eagerness or unware of my limitsness, I pick up more than I can carry. A few times, this turned into disaster like tripping over what I am carrying or dropping everything all over etc. For the most part, even though there is struggle, eventually, I get the job done. In the past few months, worrying that I would not fill my life when I am no longer working the “one day”, I have pickup a few tasks and have been given a few more that I had not anticipated. Like much about me, I am good at balancing plates. After grad school and my commitment to the Youth Bureau was over, I took on a staff job as Human Services planner for Monroe County. It was my long hair days and it was the job of my lifetime and where I wrote 5 million in grants and made some real difference in the delivery of services. I talked about the plate balance stuff and my boss after a particularly hard stretch, gave me a stick and a plastic plate. When I was looking for an assistant, I started to spin the plate to demonstrate what this job was about. Long hours, sometimes days with little sleep etc. I hired the best. She was not only one of the most attractive woman I have known, she was a great writer and edited my stuff better than anyone. To relax, I often took out the plate, put on my engineers cap that Chuck game me .. and talked and spun. I have always handled many things at the same time. I could get up from a scene like this, put on my public clothes and give a paper at a luncheon, followed by a press conference, meet the county manager for a debriefing and make dinner for the staff, while jotting notes for a new project. I need a planner and calendar and todo’s to keep up with myself, but in managing my time fairly well, can shift from one thing to another and usually make deadlines. I have learned to problem solve in my sleep, try not to drag one issue to the next issue window and I don’t expect anyone to follow my path. May people have asked, how many jobs or lifetimes have you lived. Just one.. but to the tilt. I love it. I probably am an over achiever, but I am pretty happy. The most unhappy I am is when someone sees my life and says.. wow.. let me help you but taking my task off of your plate. Take a plate, and I am unbalance. What I want to say is ..don’t be full of help.. and know if I need it, I will ask.