I Have too Many Ideas

Often I get these brainstorms which end up causing me work. Like a new blog with my kids to chronicle a whole year at the pond near our house. (I will post a link from this blog) Like creating a mom daughter group, like coordinating outings, and parties and other stuff. Not to mention the stuff I do because I feel like I should (volunteering for kid related stuff mostly). When I worked, I was always the one to volunteer to do something. It had to get done, didn't it? Same thing when I was on the board of a local arts organization. If I didn't say I'd help, I was afraid no one else would either.

Don't get my wrong, when it's my idea it's because I really want to do it. I just always seem to want to do so much! And then before you know it, I am doing so much. And before you know it, I'm stressed out.

To that end, I'm thinking about my school volunteering for next year. This year I did the welcome wagon thing (kind of a rush for about 2 weeks in August and then mostly done for the rest of the year) and helped coordinate an art appreciation program (helping to create an art project curriculum for parents to do in the classroom, purchasing supplies, distributing all the info, tracking supplies, and then helping out with projects in my kids classrooms.). That has been more of an ongoing commitment. Then I read in As classroom once a week, and I'm one of her room parents. Oh, and I do random volunteering for bookfair or other one night stands. So I'm trying to figure out what I want to do, and then not do more (that's the hard part, right?). I always end up saying yes to just one more thing. Have you ever heard of the straw that broke the camels back? I know I'm not alone in this. My guess is that many of you have the same dilemma.

How do we balance the things we really want to do (Derby Lite stuff, Mom Daughter, blogs, etc.) with those I like doing but I don't do because of passion, but because I have a sense of responsibility to the organization (the school, girl scouts, etc.), with jobs (which I kind have now), and with the everyday stuff that has to get done. It's not that I don't want to participate, but I want to figure out how to do the right thing for the organizations, as well as for me. If you have a golden rule, please share. If not, I'll be sure to let you know what I decide regarding all of the above.