Fighting the Good Fight but in a pickle!

[WomaninaPickle]

Sisters, I have stood and been lucky enough to be chosen for a couple of political positions locally.
(I am not Jo Swinson 😉)

I stood as I was so damn angry at the attack on women's rights from all angles including Austerity and the pressure on people to accept a biological impossibility i.e. That people can really, truly change sex.
Now I am looking at the reality and quaking in my DMs!

I have namechanged for this as I am going to describe my life in some detail. I have been on MN FOREVER,

I am retirement age but the Government don't agree so I work 2-3 days each week until 7pm
I volunteer in a project that demands quite a physical effort one day each week
I have an allotment that is time consuming for half of the year, less so over the winter but I help to run it too.
I have small and large grandchildren who I see a few times a week

The issue that has arisen is that I am dreadfully disorganised since I devolved a health condition which is very painful, necessitates some rest and is managed by painkillers, which obviously cause some lethargy.

I want to get on top of all this and do the best I can for local people and for women locally, nationally and across the world. I obviously mean through campaigning for the global things, I am not thinking of rushing around the globe 😊

So I have 2 secretary roles and an executive officer role.
A)Secretary in first organisation is straightforward, quiet in the autumn and winter, some fundraising

B) secretary in second organisation will be harder in that I take over from much loved individual who hasn't been very proactive and I want to change this, introduce social media, meetups, events. The background to this is lots of contentious issues which I have to take into consideration

C) this is huge! There is guidance online, I can ask for training and I have friends in this role who will help and support me. The issue of women's rights will impact on all areas of this role and I need to be totally on top of all the relevant arguments

I think my questions are
#how do I prioritise?
#Have I taken on too much in my eagerness?
#Will they find out that I am pretending to be a grownup?

Oh, and I must say I really want to do this, I hate how tired I get so any practical advice on dealing with medication would be great. I was just reading the thread about completing a dissertation and I think I am in that position; you know what you should do but you just freeze! 😳

(I would post this in another topic area if I could think of the correct one but as I respect all you women I turned to FWR first)

Good for you to practice what you preach.... It's important that women take on these roles, we are very good at multitasking but with age some of us find it harder to keep up the energy. I would advise having downtime from social media and don't do more in your roles than you need to ..look for the next woman who might take some of it on in the future. Just by speaking out you will be doing a great service for women and girls. Go for it.

I admire you hugely!

This bit stood out: I want to change this, introduce social media, meetups, events

I don't know how big your group is but I would strongly suggest you delegate rather than trying to do all of this yourself. So set up an events and meetups subgroup, and create a social media role.

Thank you for replying so quickly
Yes to delegating!
Hoping to role share soon re women’s rights role which will help

Any practical advice?
Eg Should I set times/days for each role?

When recruiting for roles I think it will help if you can be clear what the role entails and what is expected. No-one wants to sign up for a title when they are not sure what they are getting themselves into.

Or be sneaky and don't recruit into roles at all. If you know people well, try and grab individual people "X, I know you're pretty good on social media, could you set us up a Facebook page".

I would get yourself a notebook/filofax and write down all the things you have to do. Group them/reorder them/knock off the ones you can do without and highlight what you can delegate.
Knowing what needs to be done is the first step to getting organised (and who doesn't love a new notebook!!). Good luck and well done you x

No advice. Just a "Well done and good luck"

Good for you OP - just a few thoughts
Keep your eye on the big picture while making sure that the small stuff has systems to keep it afloat. Email confirmations (thank you for agreeing to do xyz, just confirming that we agreed to do the following by...date... etc ) help you keep on top of the organisational tasks.
Be aware of 'community distractors'. There's some brilliant advice on the Bunbury threads about how to manage them online - much of this is transferrable to small organisations. Trust your instincts re those who derail and distract and use some of the techniques suggested - and that's where keeping you eye on the big picture comes in. It helps you ignore / compartmentalise those who suck the energy out of groups and initiatives and focus on what you want to achieve.

Wishing you the very best.

I'm a terrible procrastinator, and I find I have days when I get absolutely amazing amounts of stuff done, and days when I can't even seem to take my mug downstairs.

What seems to help:

Deal with stuff as it comes in. I can't forget it if I've dealt with it now - eg. paying bills, replying to emails. If I can't reply immediately, then I flag it, and then check my flags frequently.

The only exception there is if I'm concentrating, then I just turn the email pings off and ignore it until I'm done.

I have a todo list. On a pad next to my computer. Every now and then I make a concerted effort to cross some off, and when I've crossed off enough, I copy it out to a clean scrap of paper and start again.

I also lie in bed when I've just woken up and check what I've got on today, think about what I might also be able to fit in - lets me wake up a bit more slowly, but also get stuff done.

For me though, the number one thing is the doing things as soon as they come in, otherwise I am likely to forget it.

Oh I love you all!
I was drowning not waving and now I can see some plans emerging
Thank you so much

Just jumping on to say if you have one off task and need help try people per hour. Freelancers bid for the work and you match them to the task. Obviously a recruitment agency could help if you need long term support, but to start with like a PP said see who in your circle can help you in the beginning. I'm doing some volunteer work, just bits and pieces in my lunch hours to help with a charity so others might be able to just do the odd thing to help before you find the right people.

Medication wise...if you’re newly taking something you might feel a bit poleaxed and tired/experience side effects for the first few months (IME anyway!)

I couldn’t fight the tiredness for a long time, and then suddenly I just could. Like a switch and flipped. I also used to feel v nauseous and have low appetite but again, this wore off eventually. I think you do acclimatise, to a point, but it’s SO important to learn how to pace yourself and when you need to rest. Any by rest, I do mean properly. Not sit down while you do a sitting down job or update social media etc. Rest either means a nap, feet up and a book, meditation, gentle yoga. Proper time out helps you keep the energy up for other things.

Congratulations as well!

Thank you for all the suggestions
Resting today, then planning to get things straight in my head tomorrow
😊