The Joy of the Fear of Missing Out

Three weeks ago, I attended the first in-person Alexander Technique conference that AmSAT (our professional organization) has had since 2019. For the last 5 years, we’ve had online workshops and business meetings on Zoom, and I was very excited to reconnect with other AT teachers and teachers in training. However, the last 5 years have been…what they’ve been, and I have learned a lot about boundaries, how quickly I can move from ‘interested and engaged’ to ‘OVERWHELMED’, and how much quiet time I need. So, I gave myself permission to observe instead of actively participate in workshops or to leave an event early. 

This worked extremely well…until we got to the business meeting. We have to have enough people present to make a quorum so that we can vote on any changes that need to be made within the organization, and I’ve always attended for this reason. For a while it looked like the voting would have to be postponed and sorted out later (somehow). Finally, though, we had enough people to vote and that part went relatively quickly and easily. It was now over 3 hours into the scheduled meeting time and I wanted to eat lunch. I had permission to leave early (see above) so I left and headed to the dining hall.

About five minutes later, I received a text from a friend saying that I had been awarded the Certificate of Merit for service to AmSAT, from when I was in charge of the biweekly association newsletters. There was a speech about me! People clapped! I missed the whole thing! HOWEVER. Being called up for recognition in front of your peers is a textbook definition of being overwhelmed and I was long past being interested and engaged in the meeting. AT has a lot to say about knowing your boundaries and your limits and I truly believe I made the right decision. Besides, getting to the dining hall before it became overrun with conference attendees was its own reward 💕

Sometimes you just need a sign…or three.

Proof of the existence of the certificate!