Everyone assumes you are busy, but still thinks you have time for them. It is a blessing and a curse when you are talented, an active volunteer and good at what you do. It’s a curse because everyone wants you on THEIR bumboclaat team. It’s always convenient, how seamlessly who you are and what you do fits like a missing jigsaw piece in someone else’s puzzle. Before you know it, you are working nonstop. Always busy, never home, for the love of service and volunteerism! But it is great because you get so many pats on the shoulder, the applause at the end of the presentations, the headshakes, the approving smiles, the double taps on Instagram, the affirmative Facebook comments and endless WhatsApp messages, let’s not forget the bumboclaat group adds that pop up like pimples (groans).
Suddenly you find yourself desperate to fall out of the rut you had no idea you fell into.
The Sunday self-care turns into seldom self-care, then busy and you never have time for anything and you can’t seem to get anything done because you are always bumboclaat busy!
Retrieved from Loop Jamaica
If only people would give you some bumboclaat space, so that you can return to some sense of normalcy and replenish the now empty cup that once runneth over. So how does one undo the virtually impossible (which really isn’t but at this point you are so tied up you don’t know where to start unraveling)?
Start by saying, “No!”
The reality is that if you are always available you aren’t available. There is a saying “he who is friends with everyone is friends with no one”. The same can be said, “he who has time for everyone, has time for no one”.
Your “no” doesn’t have to be cold and callous.
The old “Let me check my schedule and get back to you” has never lost its charm. After that, you move in for the kill “I’m sorry but I am not available”.
We know youthful exuberance and the will to make the world a better place never takes a holiday, but you should. You need that break to reassess if what you are currently doing ties into what you have set out to achieve for yourself.
Don’t get it twisted, this is not to dissuade people from acts of service or altruism. It’s an online heart to heart, a volunteer anonymous if you will. For those who have found their “doing too much” is not doing anything at all, or for them at least.
After you have a few no’s under your belt (now give yourself a pat on the shoulder) take some time and do nothing. During your hiatus, you should have time to clear your mind, declutter your messages and start afresh.
Make a pact with yourself.
Now its time to be intentional about your involvement. Your focus should be securing the bag, if money isn’t your motivation then it’s about doing the things YOU want to do. Dedicate some time for rest and recharge, that’s why we have weekends so no need to resume the hamster on the wheel act.
