ahka | Stress is in the air, this time in the Fall (Reply)

I am getting overwhelmed by everything that is happening mostly at work. Usually, September and October are our slow months when we can catch up on paperwork, track our last year’s clients and get some break from super busy summer. This year, September and October were as busy for me as during the summer months. Even if clients don’t show, I get a lot of phone calls or need to work on paperwork. I already have a half of file cabinet of new files for this year that I am ignoring. Tracking for last year is priority for the annual report that is due at the end of November.

I have been trying to use my time wisely and track clients if there are no shows. I met with over 700 clients last year (our year goes from September 1^st through August 31^st of next year).

On top of that I am going to present at the regional TRiO MAEOPP conference in Indiana in November and a week after that conference will be presenting at the MAFAA conference here in Minneapolis. Next week is a workshop in the evening after work and Michael’s field trip that I volunteered to chaperon. Right around that time there is an open house at our college that I am going to staff the table. Tracking must be done before Thanksgiving. I don’t work on Fridays anymore and already feel the stress. So far I got through all files from A to H. H pile is huge! I did half of it today. It felt like it was endless.

This reminds me of the Spring time when I presented in Wisconsin and the next day at the U of MN MCDA conference plus all other stuff that was going on. At that time the prize was my vacation to Rio. This time, I actually look forward to getting few nights of sleep in Indiana without Michelle waking me up.

I have two weeks to prepare for my presentation. It is a version of my presentation in La Crosse and MCDA using existential concepts to help students succeed in college and in life. The title of the presentation is To be a tree or not to be?! I got a cute cartoon with this question. I need to create power point slides by next week.

I have been wondering, why am I so irritated at home? Well, I guess I bring my stress home from work plus stress of having Boris somewhat disabled. All physical work at home is on me now. I feel his pain and can't do much to make it heal faster.

Kids make me smile, yet drive me crazy when misbehaving or being very loud. Michelle is pushing her boundaries. It is difficult to punish her because she is so so so cute!
oh, well, I will survive, as usually.