Because That's What Happens

So I'm settling in my new job, getting used to the rolling waves of chaos, when.... BAM!! Road blocks. All over my fucking road.

Big ones.

One of my favorite derby girls in the whole wide world ends up in the Intensive Care Unit with no warning in a losing battle with septic pneumonia and MRSA, fighting for her life...

The office manager who had a premature baby 8 months ago is finally able to bring her son home from the NICU and takes maternity leave...

and before those two upheavals, I am throned as co-chair of the Athletics committee and simultaneously voted in as co-captain of my home team. 200+ emails flood my inbox relating to topics and documents...

I am feeling like I need a brush-up course on how to swim...

Now, I've heard of life throwing us challenges when it thinks we are prepared to cope with them, but COME ON. Did it all have to happen in 2 weeks time? I'm trying really hard not to freak out, but damn. I worked a super long day today and had to miss my own committee meeting, and yesterday I coordinated a food run to the hospital via text for my friend's boyfriend in-between hunting Senators to sign bills (they're like endangered species you know... elusive, protected, and super crafty).
I've heard of multi-tasking, I vaguely remember multi-tasking in college, and I've always thought myself perfectly capable of doing so. But this definitely ups the ante for me. Now I care. Now I have to do good work. This is not a situation I am allowed to fail or coast through. I am challenged in work, challenged in derby, and challenged when I go home each night. I certainly bit off a large chunk of reality, but I am learning a ton! I used to wonder how people could function on very little sleep. Now I am one of them... fueling up on coffee whenever possible, taking sleeping pills at night to keep from waking up in a panic every half hour.

It's not that my job responsibilities are too hard, it's that there are so many. I am now doing the job that was set out for me to do PLUS the job of the Office Manager, and doing a bang-up job, I might add ;) So far, no appointments have been double-booked or forgotten, and all errors have been corrected with very little disturbance. I think I am harder on myself than anyone in my office is on me. I get mad when I fuck up. The silliest thing is that these "fuck-ups" aren't really me screwing things up as much as they are holes in my training. It would be impossible to know every detail of the office process in only a few weeks time, let alone run the entire circus flawlessly. The office manager has been waiting a long time to take her maternity leave and enjoy her baby boy, and even though the timing couldn't have been worse, THAT'S LIFE.

Is the timing bad for me to be going through such a tumultuous shift in duties and responsibilities? Oh, hell no. It's perfect. Into the fire with me! I've certainly been flying by the seat of my pants long enough to figure it all out as I go. Right?