Yikes, today has been a day when so many balls got tossed to me that I had to make a running (and expanding list) so I didn’t forget to do (or even think about) what I committed to do every time a ball was added. I used to facilitate leadership development classes where we would learn to juggle. Does it mean anything now that I never could get the hang of it, even with three balls?

I’m working on my favorite consulting project and have a presentation draft due my colleagues for their reflection and suggestions. I teach/facilitate my own webinar about Appreciative Coaching and the next session is in a few days so I need to at least look at my notes. My grandson is coming to visit and the logistics of this (I go to Minnesota to get him, his mom picks him up ten days later in California) were finalized this morning. I have two coaching certification classes on Monday (I’m a student here with homework and peer coaching responsibilities). I needed to schedule three more coaching clients within the consulting project mentioned above. I am responsible to open our local International Coach Federation meeting tonight with a bonding exercise for attendees. Fortunately I figured out what the exercise would be last week, but I still have to do it tonight. Oh, and I have papers to grade in my masters course. Whew, just writing all this down makes me tired.

What I’m aware of this afternoon is that being this busy used to make me feel important. For the last few years it has made me feel either tired or fearful–tired because my energy is not limitless, and fearful because I’m likely to forget something (to drop one or more of the balls thrown in my office during the day). If I go with this juggling image, I’ve been adding balls all day, looking up in the air for the next one to appear and keeping my hands tossing and catching. Even jugglers have a limit, don’t they? The funny thing about this is that I’ve been feeling quite sane until today–teaching only one course, loving the coaching and consulting, reading novels, taking naps. Today feels super-charged, and super-charged doesn’t feel good any more, or sane.