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I’m not sure if this is a topic that gets discussed too much, but that doesn’t make it any less important. This is about burning yourself out, stretching yourself too thin, and burning the candle at both ends. If other women in this field are anything like me, you really put forth a lot of effort. I mean a lot of effort. You have a work addiction. Likely more so than your colleagues to compensate for the fact that “you’re just a woman”.
I think that some of us should take a deep breath, and ponder if we’re on a path to getting burned out completely.
This has been on my mind for the last week or so, and I can’t let go of it. So here I am, writing it down to see if I can figure it out and possibly help some along the way. Let me paint you a picture of what my typical week looks like:
On Mondays I work for 9 hours, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I work for 14 hours. On Thursdays I work about 9 and a half hours. That’s 46 hours in 4 days. On Fridays and Saturdays, I have misc. gigs with my band that can range anywhere from 3 hours in the afternoon to a 14 hour blazing double-gig, and sometimes actually having one or both days off. And on Sundays I work church services and freelance consultations for houses of worship.
So I’ll be a little shy on the average, but let’s say that’s 15 hours. So now we’re up to 61 hours. On top of that, I have several interns, I’m developing curriculum for graduate students on event technology, and I write here for SoundGirls every month, and I’ve got another writing project in the works. So I’ve got to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70 hours a week. Every week.
So, in short, I’m busy.
I’m really busy.
Not to mention planning a wedding, and whatever resemblance of a social life I’ve got. Oh, and I’m trying to go back to school in January.
Tired yet?
When I’m in an interview, I often get asked what my greatest weakness is. I hate answering that question, I don’t understand the point of it, and I have to answer it like a jerk.
My greatest weakness is that I work too much. From the employer’s point of view, that isn’t really a problem. But for me, it is. I have been known to work when I really should not.
Last year I got very sick for an entire month. I almost popped my ear drum because I refused to go to the doctor. I didn’t miss a single day of work, though.
The good news is I’m young. I can get away with working this much because my body and mind can keep up. But for how long?
I recently accepted another job. A colleague needed some help, and it included some fun projects that I’m really looking forward to working on. And in the wake of my formal acceptance of the position, I began feeling something I hadn’t felt in a long time: stretched. At some point, something will have to give. I know that I need to force some time for more relaxation in, we all should.
We are such a work-centric society, relaxation and family time doesn’t mean much. In fact, I’m sure a lot of people would be impressed that I can juggle so much. But should we juggle so much? Why must we work so much harder than our colleagues? Draw a line in the sand, and promise yourself that you won’t work past it. Schedule in relaxation. It’s so important for our mental health, which gets ignored a lot. I’m tired while writing this. Today is my one day off for a while. Don’t work yourself to death if you don’t need to. Enjoy every single day. Our field can be really really fun and it’s easy to let things slip away from us.
I’m lucky enough to love every single day of work, but I have to start shaving off some of it or I may end up hating it.
So, what do I do?
Well, it may mean giving and taking from some places. I always have my list of most important things in my life. My significant other is at the top, followed closely by my work at the school, and my work at the church, then freelancing. That may mean working faster when possible so that I may get work finished and move on to the next project. It may also mean turning down some projects to keep my availability open.
If my S.O. needs something, that absolutely comes first. You have to be able to say “no.” I have a system of support so that when something does happen, I’ve got all my projects covered. I wouldn’t be able to do all this by myself. It actually took a good amount of time to get this system set up, and I’m still building it.
There are so many moving parts to each event and every project that you simply just cannot put it all on yourself. I don’t like missing work, but if I need to I know I’ve got 2 or 3 very reliable, trustworthy people to take my place.
My very specific line in the sand is any event on a Sunday. I try my absolute hardest to not do anything on Sunday, as does my S.O., so that we may spend this time together. Sometimes things pop up, and on occasion I will do them, but only after I’ve spoken with my better half. Know that relationships with other people are important. Family means different things to different people, just make sure that you nurture those relationships. They’ll help you up when you’re down.
Be careful. Your life outside of work is just as important as the work itself.
Article by SoundGirl: Samantha Potter
Another great article by SoundGirls: Touring: How To Find Your Work/Life Balance
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The mission of SoundGirls.org is to inspire and empower the next generation of women in audio. Our mission is to create a supportive community for women in audio and music production, providing the tools, knowledge, and support to further their careers. SoundGirls.Org was formed in 2013 by veteran live sound engineers Karrie Keyes and Michelle Sabolchick Pettinato and operates under the Fiscal Sponsorship of The California Women’s Music Festival, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. In 2012, Karrie and Michelle participated in the “Women of Professional Concert Sound” panel at the AES Conference in San Francisco. The panel was hosted by the Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) and moderated by WAM founder Terri Winston. Terri brought together five women working in live and broadcast audio. The groundbreaking panel (which also included Jeri Palumbo, Claudia Engelhart and Deanne Franklin), provided young women and men a glimpse into life on the road, tips and advice, and a Q & A with the panelists. More importantly though, was how incredibly powerful the experience was for the panelists. We had all been in the business for 20 years or more, yet most of us had never met before that day and within minutes we bonded like long-lost sisters. We were struck by how similar our experiences, work ethics, and passions were and wondered why our paths had never crossed and how our careers would have been different had we been there to support each other through the years. Each of us are strong on our own, but together we were even stronger and a powerful force. We were empowered. Each of us had been asked hundreds of times in our careers: Are there other women doing sound? How did you get into sound? How would a young woman go about getting into sound? Through creating SoundGirls.Org, we hope to establish a place for women working in professional audio to come for support and advice, to share our success and failures, our joys and frustrations, and for empowerment and inspiration.
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