Knowing Yourself and Just Saying "No"

One of my personality traits that is both a blessing and a curse (it's mostly a curse at the moment) is that I love to be in charge of things, partly because I like to feel like I have control over a given situation. I volunteer as an adviser for the chapter of my sorority at Rollins College here in Winter Park, FL. When I first started out, I did not have too many responsibilities because at the time I was working in hospitality and my hours were too inconsistent for me to be able to really commit to it. However, once I went back to school and moved closer to Rollins, I was able to give them more of my time. This winter, the former chapter adviser let us know that she will have to move overseas for her job and she needed one of us to step up to take her place. Well, guess who put her name into the hat and got the role? Me. I was really excited at first, but then all of a sudden a lot of issues with the chapter started to come to the surface and I started to wonder what I was getting myself into. Mind you these aren't deep-seated issues with no solution in sight, but they are problems that take time and patience to address, neither of which are things that I have in abundance at the moment. However, at the same time that these issues were coming to a head the pandemic was declared and the Rollins campus was shut down. This vastly changed the dynamic of not only our little chapter but Greek life in the United States as a whole. It is also changing my life as I prepare for doctorate applications and (potentially, hopefully soon) moving to another part of the country.

A couple weeks ago on Twitter, I saw this tweet:

Although I love the girls that I work with and I care about their success, I think that if I were to go back in time I would tell myself to say no to this opportunity. It feels like it's biting off more than I can chew and that might have implications for the chapter down the line. Once I do move and start a doctorate program I will have to hand over the reins to someone else instead of doing it virtually so that they will have more hands-on help. For now, I am going to do the best with what I have and enjoy the time that I do get to spend with them.

I know that I will also have to say no to a bunch of other opportunities like this in the future that might give me leadership skills but will be burdensome time commitments at the same time. This doesn't just apply to volunteer positions; I can already see it coming at my current job, if it isn't already happening now and I'm not aware of it. There's only so much time in the day and I need to make time for myself too. If I don't make time for the things that I enjoy and give my brain time to breathe, I'm not going to bring my A-game to my career. Also, I might say "yes" to an opportunity that is sort of interesting to me but isn't my passion and lose out on something else in the future that I truly do care about but can't take on because I'm so busy with the other commitment on my plate. You never know!

Have you ever been in a situation similar to this? What are some things that you've had to say "no" to in the past?