Focused at Fifty

At what point does volunteer work become bad for you? When does it become septic and the good you feel from giving your time cost you in terms of mental and physical health? What do you do about the guilt you feel when you need to pull back and others say, "No, we need you! No one does that position better than you!" I learned first hand this spring about the negative effects of volunteer work and helping others. For the last couple months, I loaded up on bartending shifts at the Fire House when others went on vacation, agreed to help at three major events for the Lodge (not to mention on top of my normal bartending and managing duties), collected boxes upon boxes of magazines to donate for the hospital waiting rooms, watched my neighbor's cat, watered her plants, and took care of her house while she has been away for two weeks, and tried to take care of my household. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I can tell you I wasn't thinking NO! LOL. You want to be nice, you want t...

I turned 42 this past week and have been reflective on my past year, looking back at what I have or have not accomplished. I seem to dwell more on what I have not accomplished. Others have said, “No you are crazy, look what you have done!” I don’t know, I think we will always be harder on ourselves. I am very happy with the progress of this blog. I have had people come up to me or email me that I don’t even know and comment on posts which they have read. First, I am still shocked that anyone reads it! Second, it gives me pride, and then immense humility that people would take the time to read and comment on what I write about. I enjoy the comments and critiques and am an open to what has been said to me on how to improve my writing. In January 2012, I took over as bar manager of the Lake Wynonah Lodge. It has been fun but moderately stressful. I don’t think I correctly estimated the amount of time involved in this volunteer position! I also bartend there for some extra cash. ...