Wonderland 2024

A-1. Reflections

PROMPT ▼

We just got through a tupsy-turvy 2023. Reflect on lessons learned, and how you will use them in the year 2024. (<1000 words)

The biggest lesson I learned in 2023 is that there are apparently limits to how much I can put on my plate before I just completely shut down. That may seem like a pretty obvious statement, but for most of my life I've been the kind of person who can just keep taking on more and more responsibilities and I've always found a way to just work a little harder or more efficiently and push through. This past year, though, I definitely hit a wall where things started falling through the cracks and I just didn't have the mental capacity to balance everything that was going on.

In 2018 and 2019, I was working three jobs at the same time and I somehow managed to keep it all balanced. I would work in the office at my full-time day job, then spend my breaks and lunch and evening hours after work on the second job, then would either stay up late or get up early and put in a few hours at the third job, plus several hours on the weekend days. It was really lucrative, but also really exhausting. Even so, I was able to manage for a few months and came out the other side not much worse for wear.

In 2023, I found myself with three jobs again, but also had parenting responsibilities (which I didn't the last time around) and that was simply a bridge too far. My to-do lists got complicated and confusing, I was exhausted all the time, and I found myself having a hard time keeping track of basic details and bits of information. For the first time in my life, I think it was safe to say I was doing a lot but not doing anything particularly well, so I jettisoned one of the jobs and seriously cut back on another. I'm down to one full-time job that pays the bills, and another volunteer job that only takes up a few hours a week. The lesson I'm taking into 2024 is that it's better to do fewer things well than trying to do all the things and not doing well at any of them.



(362 words)