When I travel for work, there are always lunches that are ordered in (I try to choose the salad but often there is none left by the time my team gets to the buffet) and dinners out. There are early meetings which means standing in front of the hotel fridge drinking a protein shake hoping it will hold me over rather than swinging through Dunkin Donuts etc on the way to the office. There are late meetings which means sneaking out at some point to grab a handful of almonds or a protein bar so I can focus before we head out to a late dinner. Dinners sometimes last until 9 or 10pm because I actually enjoy my co-workers and after we are done with work talk, we visit for a while as a means of winding down. This means my window of opportunity for exercise is slim. Really slim.
As I write this, I'm on night two of a four night stretch away from home (unless I can keep my Thursday meetings from going too late and then I can go home a night early!) and I'm looking down the double barrel of a suuuuper long day Wednesday - starts with an early meeting, meetings allllllll day with one tiny 30 minute break and then meetings up until the Open House which is followed by a late business dinner. Thursday is an alllllll day planning retreat for the leadership team which will be great but busy followed by a meeting with my boss. Whew! I'm exhausted just thinking about it!
The irony is that my boss handed me an article today called "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time" and talked about how we need to get back to a place of doing what we love and putting to bed the growing pains that are causing all of this extra work. I like it. In theory. I hope u get there. Soon.
I do love what I was hired to do but with our catapulting growth, I have been sucked into the world of process and troubleshooting and problem solving and reaction. I was hired to develop and manage leaders and I can't wait until I can focus there again.
And now, to bed before midnight. Hopefully my brain cooperates and shits out the lights soon. Maybe I'll get up early and walk to work. It's only about two miles. And this time I won't do it in heels. :-) I don't even pack them after the last incident that left me unable to put on shoes after a co-worker convinced me the meeting was "just down the block" but it was 2.4 miles away. :-)
Hotel joys of the night: Small dog barking in a nearby room. Man outside my window beeping car horn and yelling "José José! Let's go! JOSÉ! LET'S GO!"
(Apparently José is in a room and his ride is ready for him...) Air temperature of the room volleying between arctic and tropical. Smell of tonight's dinner wafting in from the bathroom trash. Yay!
Did I mention that I miss being at home? I also miss being able to show up to a meeting wearing pajama pants because nobody can see them in my video chat. :-)
