At the beginning of the year, I took a step back and looked at how far my career had grown. In large part because of the incredible data community, I’ve been given unbelievable opportunities to speak at international conferences and meet passionate data folks from all over the world. Got a few things off the bucket list like going on a cruise, and even added some new ones like having a beer with my friends from Germany in Germany.
But when I looked at this upcoming year, my heart felt a bit sore and tired. While I love traveling and speaking, I realized that I was losing my balance on the tight walk of fulfillment with burnout valley looming below. I talked to Adam Jorgensen, who I have seen make difficult decisions in search of this balance, and he turned my attention to the S curve of growth. An S curve is always going up, but there are periods of rest and recovery along the way. As I thought about my goals for the current year, I realized that slowing down may be the key to continuing to love what I do and grow.
Fast forward a couple months, and my boyfriend asked me to marry him! I was overjoyed and can’t wait for him to move to Kentucky in a couple months (our story). As many of you know, my dad (Steve Hughes) was diagnosed with ALS a couple years ago (CaringBridge). Given the progression of his ALS symptoms, Kyle (my incredible fiancé) and I decided to have the wedding this coming October! It’s a quick turnaround, but I have full faith it will be the celebration we dreamed of. I was never a big fan of the long distance anyway, so I am super excited to start our lives together sooner rather than later.
With all this in mind, I have had to back out of a couple of conferences this fall – Enertia Software Conference and PASS Summit. Unfortunately, my current employer requires employees to take PTO to attend conferences. There are some allowances made if you’re speaking (one day per session accepted), but it does make it difficult to take time off to attend conferences in person when I would like to be there for any complications in surgeries and also take a honeymoon. Both Enertia and PASS Summit are near and dear to my heart, but I have already contacted the organizers who have graciously allowed me to back out of those commitments and find alternative speakers. I will dearly miss all of the friends I only get to see at these events, but for a little while my PTO and energy need to be allocated elsewhere. Don’t worry though, I’ll still stay in touch on social media and learn from you all from afar! I also plan to continue speaking virtually and in local user groups while catching up on some blogs that have been in my drafts for too long.
I have no doubt I will be speaking at conferences again, but for now I am very happy to focus on the big life changes coming up. Thank you so much for all the support we have received as a family, it’s been amazing to see the data community contribute to the ALS foundation! The response from data folks on Twitter and LinkedIn was overwhelming, so thank you again for your support. The walk is a week away, and I can’t wait to see some of you in person for that as well!
For those of you struggling on that tightrope of fulfillment, don’t ignore your gut when it tells you something is out of balance. Make those adjustments, and enjoy the view.