Wise Women

It’s Thursday night and I am tired. I haven’t yet fully recovered from flying home from Sydney. This week has been busy at work, and my nightly hot yoga schedule (I am a slave to my routine; it grounds me) has been disrupted by other events. Monday night was our Annual HOA Board Meeting. I’m coming up on my one year anniversary serving on my HOA Board. Our HOA Board should have at least five members. After our annual meeting, we’re down to two, myself and one other person. None of the 10+ community members who attended the annual meeting want to serve, and two long serving members quit. I think our property manager sent about a dozen HOA related emails today alone. I’m still questioning my judgement about my decision to join, but I’m too conscientious to quit at this point. In theory my term in up in one year. I’ll be ready.

Tonight we had a Wise Women “dine around.” I joined the advisory board of Wise Women at about the same time as I joined my HOA Board. This experience is pretty much the complete opposite of serving on my HOA Board. Tonight about a dozen of us gathered at a member’s home for a meal prepared by the member and her husband, who literally wore a chef’s jacket for most of the evening (the husbands mostly don’t stay home for these events). The food and wine were outstanding, but the memorable part is always the conversation. I am physically and mentally exhausted, but at the same time, I feel so blessed and energized to be a part of this group, and to be inspired by the work (both for and non-profit) that these women do. I’d love to brag about each of them, and what they’ve accomplished, but that’s not what it’s about. If you are in the greater Denver area, and this is of interest, ask me in person and I’m happy to share more if you think you’d like to get involved. There are more professional development oriented events, but a core activity is just getting to be real, over food and drink, with like minded peers. I love this.

I am incredibly grateful to Diane Zile who invited me to join. If you need corporate strategic planning (that’s how I met her) or life plan/coaching support – you should contact her.

In the vein of authenticity, which is one of the things I love most about Wise Women, Do or Don’t take it Personally? was the most memorable thing I read today. Let me sum up, it depends. And this brief post does a great job of arguing both sides – depending on the context. I’ve read it a few times, but keep marking it “unread” so I can go back and run through it one more time. That’s pretty much the highest praise I can give to a writer.

Day 18 #BlogPals19