25 & Trying

The End of the Campaign Trail

Fighting for Climate on The National Mall

Well Hello! Remember me?

I hope you do. I have missed this blog in the last month. I have come to the end of my campaign, and literally cannot believe I survived. I have war wounds – physical and emotional – but I made it. I have never worked so hard or so long as I have in the past few months. It has really been a challenge in the most enormous sense of the word.

Our organization’s culminating event was a Climate Rally on The National Mall in Washington, DC. There, speakers, artists, environmentalists, children, adults, and people from all over decided that they didn’t want to live in a world without a climate bill.

Politics aside, it was a work situation like none other. Imagine a team of twenty-something’s led only by caffeine and occasional fried food, trying to make a situation work. There’s cat fighting, incest, and the occasional tequila shot at the office at an ungodly hour. I know that most people don’t ever experience this type of work environment. I know I hadn’t — and being in nonprofit doesn’t necessarily mean you will experience it at some point. I hadn’t expected it.

I guess now that the dust is settling slightly, I can take a look back at some lessons..

1) Your coworkers will become your family in a situation like this. You are bound to get in spats with some of them.

2) Happy hours and alcohol and random dinners out with break your budget entirely if you let it.

3) Exercise is few and far between

4) The only thing that got me through was pushing through. You gotta dig deep.

5) Relish your free time when it’s all over.

In work situations, we are always challenged – hopefully – and in a sense, we rise to the occasion a little bit everyday. When it gets impossible, there are others around us who will either help us or keep us down. I think I learned a lot about what it means to rely on people (and the sad reality that sometimes you can’t rely on anyone but yourself.) Sometimes, when I was feeling really stressed, it was the small moments of calm that really mattered. I was fortunate enough to have my husband on this campaign with me – which is something some people may be stressed by, but it was actually a real help.

There were times when he saw me at the point of explosion, and was there. There were also times that we both had little to no time to spend in a calm, and loving atmosphere with each other. But we tried.

Sitting at home eating something I actually had time to cook, a trip to the store to get a piece of chocolate, an extra Starbucks drink to get me through. It’s definitely the little things.