The Science of Monitoring Yourself

Hi there! I’m Mary Thengvall, and this is Ember. I know a lot of people have been up here today talking about how to build, improve, and monitor your community, and all of those things are very, very important! But I’m going to talk to you about something that I would argue is equally as important, if not moreso. - Who I am and why it’s so important for me to monitor myself - Let’s be real… it’s not all about me ;) why is it so important for all of us to monitor ourselves? - Lastly, we’ll talk about how to take care of ourselves in order to prevent burnout 1

So first! Who am I? 2

Community manager and builder, both by trade and by nature 3

Community Mgr at SparkPost – an email delivery plaSorm for developers. 4

I’m a cohost of Community Pulse – a monthly podcast about all the things we as community professionals care about, from analyUcs and ROI to how to maintain our personal lives. 5

I also help manage the Evangelist CollecUve – a Slack community for community professionals. 6

In my spare Ume, I love indoor skydiving 7

I live in San Francisco. I used to refer to my apartment as an expensive storage unit, but I’m lucky enough to actually be in town and enjoy it these days. This picture is of Ember and I at the top of Tank Hill in San Francisco, and as you can see… I’m definitely not someone who looks like they “need” a service dog… 8

But I am in fact someone who benefits from having a medical alert service dog. And as you can see, we’re a good fit for each other, considering I’m someone who doesn’t look like I need a service dog, and he doesn’t look like a service dog! ;) So let me explain a bit of my background, and how Ember became a service dog for me. 9

This is a picture of me at 3yo… with my awesome striped kiby dress and pigtails Ued with yarn… and my newly aquired medic-alert bracelet on my lec wrist. I was diagnosed at 2y 10m and it’s funny how much this defines the Umeline of my life. Though I don’t remember a lot about my Ume “BD” (before diabetes), there’s no doubt my life would have been drasUcally different without it. 10

For you to understand just how much it’s changed my life, you need to understand what type one diabetes is (and isn’t): - 29 million Americans have some form of diabetes (pre, T1D, T2D, gestaUonal), but only 5% of these are T1D, so, for obvious reasons, the majority of the research, knowledge base, etc. is geared toward T2. - this leads to misconcepUons and a general lack of knowledge around T1D - It is NOT: — caused by excessive weight or not taking care of yourself (sidenote: this also applies to Type 2 Diabetes at Umes, but that’s another conversaUon) — caused by your parents feeding you too many sugary things as a kid (unlike what my college hall-mate believed, despite my trying to correct her) — preventable - It IS: — an auto-immune disease, where your body essenUally abacks itself — chronic (aka while it’s treatable, it does not have a cure) 11

The picture on the lec gives you an idea of what this treatment looks like. It’s lancets and finger pricks and insulin pumps (or shots for some people), conUnuous glucose monitoring systems, emergency supplies for hypoglycemia, and in my case, a dog who alerts me when my blood sugar is heading toward low and I need to take a break. The picture on the right shows the devices that I wear: an insulin pump that delivers a certain amount of insulin per hour and more when I eat, and a conUnuous glucose monitoring system that tracks my blood sugar out on a graph so I can track paberns. 12

In its most basic terms, this all means that I’ve probably pricked my finger over 60,000 Umes to record the amount of sugar in my blood stream. I had done ~8,000 shots of insulin prior to genng my insulin pump, and since then, I’ve inserted ~1500 new insulin pump sites. That’s not to speak of the number of carbohydrates I’ve counted over the years, or how I’ve learned my 15, 13, or 17 Umes-tables to calculate insulin dosages. 13

In its most basic terms, this all means that I’ve probably pricked my finger over 60,000 Umes to record the amount of sugar in my blood stream. I had done ~8,000 shots of insulin prior to genng my insulin pump, and since then, I’ve inserted ~1500 new insulin pump sites. That’s not to speak of the number of carbohydrates I’ve counted over the years, or how I’ve learned my 15, 13, or 17 Umes-tables to calculate insulin dosages. 14

In its most basic terms, this all means that I’ve probably pricked my finger over 60,000 Umes to record the amount of sugar in my blood stream. I had done ~8,000 shots of insulin prior to genng my insulin pump, and since then, I’ve inserted ~1500 new insulin pump sites. That’s not to speak of the number of carbohydrates I’ve counted over the years, or how I’ve learned my 15, 13, or 17 Umes-tables to calculate insulin dosages. 15

So yes, diabetes sucks, and involves a lot of number counUng, and a lot of thinking, and a lot of precauUon. BUT as you can see, that doesn’t stop me from doing what I want to do. It also doesn’t stop me from being independent and stubborn, etc. (some of you who are here today can tesUfy to that ;) ) and I was always determined to do everything on my own, but then this lible guy came along… 16

• got him as a pet. - intuiUveness of dogs, etc. etc. - Started waking me up at night, eventually figured out… 17

Long story short, now he travels with me everywhere, serving as both a medical alert dog, and (bonus!) an easy way to be found at conferences. 18

Great… but how does this affect you (other than dog cuteness and genng to cuddle with Ember at conferences)? 19

Let’s pivot for a moment with a few more numbers: - 7% of the populaUon struggles with some sort of mental disability or illness (including depression) - DiabeUcs are 3x more likely to struggle with depression due to the mental and emoUonal toll from dealing with a chronic disease - But the truly staggering number is that 49% up there – that’s the percentage of people in tech (parUcularly managers/leaders/founders) who struggle with, and somethng you all might be familiar with… burnout These numbers are astoundingly high, and this is not ok. 20

Let’s pivot for a moment with a few more numbers: - 7% of the populaUon struggles with some sort of mental disability or illness (including depression) - DiabeUcs are 3x more likely to struggle with depression due to the mental and emoUonal toll from dealing with a chronic disease - But the truly staggering number is that 49% up there – that’s the percentage of people in tech (parUcularly managers/leaders/founders) who struggle with, and somethng you all might be familiar with… burnout These numbers are astoundingly high, and this is not ok. 21

Let’s pivot for a moment with a few more numbers: - 7% of the populaUon struggles with some sort of mental disability or illness (including depression) - DiabeUcs are 3x more likely to struggle with depression due to the mental and emoUonal toll from dealing with a chronic disease - But the truly staggering number is that 49% up there – that’s the percentage of people in tech (parUcularly managers/leaders/founders) who struggle with, and somethng you all might be familiar with… burnout These numbers are astoundingly high, and this is not ok. 22

But what about dev relaUons specifically? There’s a rumor (I say rumor only because I can’t find it documented anywhere, not because I don’t believe it to be truth) that most people don’t last more than 18 months in roles like ours. In forward-facing, in-depth community building, advocacytype roles. Others say that we only last 18 months at each company. My hypothesis is that this has nothing to do with whether or not we love what we’re doing… but that 18 months is just about as long as we can push ourselves at 180%; no holds-barred; advocaUng for the company, the community, the product, the industry… basically everyone BUT ourselves. And you can only survive so long when that’s your lifestyle. à Burnout is ocen disguised as switching jobs, which also makes sense with this community. For those of you who are sinng out there saying “I know people who have struggled with burnout, but that’s not me… and it never will be! I love my job! I love what I do!” awesome. But be careful… Don’t tune out… Because unfortunately, I believe this can happen to anyone. 23

Why, might you ask? Google says there are 306 THOUSAND results for “burnout community managers.” Even if we say that only 10% of these are relevant and accurate (and that’s a stretch!) that’s sUll over 30 THOUSAND results. I think it’s safe to say there’s a problem. 24

Now… For those of you who are giving me this look right now… I don’t want to be a downer. I don’t want to predict that all of us in this room will go through burnout or depression or struggle with these things..the last thing I want is for any of us to go through that! But I am saying that there’s a problem in our industry, and we need to fix it, and it needs to start with us. As David Spinx said when Jason Hand and I interviewed him on Community Pulse… “We are the CEOs of community within our companies. It’s up to use to help the company move in the right direcUon.” and that INCLUDES what direcUon to move in with our jobs, our lifestyles, and their expectaUons of us. So how do we change it? I think the first thing we have to figure out is what causes it in the first place. 25

“The Truth About Burnout” by ChrisUna Maslach, gives some basic causes of burnout, and they resonate preby well with everything I’ve both heard and felt. The first one is lack of control. I think this XKCD cartoon explains it preby well… we start out excited, passionate, and invested in this new hobby. We try to conquer it. We try again. And again. And again. But unless we have the right mentors, the right community, the right company, etc. etc. we wind up simply throwing the book away and pursuing a different hobby. But why? I think it has something to do with the passion with which we pursue this new “hobby.” It’s not simply a hobby for us. We don’t pursue it half-heartedly. Like I said earlier, we’re community builders, both personally and professionally. This isn’t just our job, this is who we are, and we don’t want to give that up. In addiUon to that, there IS no “book”. There is no be-all, end-all tutorial on how to do community management! It’s new. It’s hard. It’s the fronUer. And it’s messy. Really, really messy. 26

How messy? Well… messy enough that people in my company consistently as me what my role is, who i report to, what my workday looks like, or what my current goals are. When we’re involved in as many things as we are, and when our jobs are a hybrid of so many departments and roles, it’s no surprise! And this is related to both the 2nd and 3rd causes… unfairness and insufficient reward. Ocen, when our work overlaps so heavily with other departments and roles, it’s easy for others to skip over what we’ve done and simply congratulate the person whose official Utle is “Content Manager” or “Customer Support.” and while that feels unfair, someUmes, that’s ok! Carrie Melissa Jones from CMX, said in a blogpost about burnout about a year ago: “This is a common plight among us community folks and, dare I say, among women in tech in general. Faced with Imposter Syndrome, we work endlessly for accolades that never seem to be quite enough. We strive for community growth that goes “viral,” without realizing that such a noUon is preposterous at best.” I spoke with a mentor of mine lately, and he brought up the fact that we are advocates, not owners. We advocate for the community, but that means we don’t need to be involved in all of the conversaUons… We don’t need to have our hands in all of the pots… We don’t even need to be congratulated for all of the communityrelated accomplishments! We don’t “own” that responsibility or those decisions. Rather, we advocate for and on behalf of the community, and become the advisors 27

Reason #4: I bet none of you can guess this one! Wait for it… Work overload! In a conversaUon with a close friend last year, I said this: It’s the constant “overwhelmed-ness” factor… the overflowing inbox, the never being in my SF home long enough to actually clean and get things organized the way I want them to be. The to do list that’s 5 pages long and only ever seems to grow… not shrink, and the burden of feeling like i’m the only one who can do all of those things. The always being “on” at events (which isn’t fake, and I love it! But it’s draining.) the physical exhausUon from not genng enough sleep consistently, and from my blood sugars not being as under control as I would like. And the guilt that comes wUh all of the above. 28

(2nd slide) Reason #4: I bet none of you can guess this one! Wait for it… Work overload! In a conversaUon with a close friend last year, I said this: It’s the constant “overwhelmed-ness” factor… the overflowing inbox, the never being in my SF home long enough to actually clean and get things organized the way I want them to be. The to do list that’s 5 pages long and only ever seems to grow… not shrink, and the burden of feeling like i’m the only one who can do all of those things. The always being “on” at events (which isn’t fake, and I love it! But it’s draining.) the physical exhausUon from not genng enough sleep consistently, and from my blood sugars not being as under control as I would like. And the guilt that comes wUh all of the above. 29

Reason #5: lack of community (irony, much?) When we spend as much Ume invesUng in everyone else’s communiUes, we someUmes fail to invest in our own. A while back, I created a twiber list of people who were essenUally my “travel buddies” – the people that I felt were my community when I was on the road. You can guess how ocen I have the Ume to check that twiber list…. :-/ but as my friend Jason’s tweet reminds us, community is those people who come looking for you when you don’t show up. find those people in your life. 30

Ok so by this point, you’re either looking at me like this… saying ok, what now? 31

Or like this… realizing that you’re either on the road to burnout or have been there for quite some Ume. Btw, sorry for those who have come to that realizaUon — Hugs available acerward!! But now that we’ve recognized what causes burnout, and hopefully goben some ideas on how to prevent it, what do we do? 32

Considering how much we all fly, I’m sure you’ve got the various safety phrases (or songs, thank you Virgin America!) memorized by now. Remember the one that says to put on your oxygen mask first? This isn’t because airlines want children or people with disabiliUes to go without oxygen for longer… it’s because if we aren’t genng oxygen, we can’t be expected to help others. Our jobs require us to be “on” fairly ocen, and someUmes, “fairly ocen” means All. The. Time. So punng our own oxygen mask on first (aka taking care of ourselves, senng aside Ume just for us, being selfish someUmes (hint: it’s not a bad thing!) is essenUal. Set it aside. Otherwise, you’re going to be short-selling your community, and more importantly, lining yourself up for certain burnout. So here’s some ways to make sure we’re genng enough oxygen. 33

SomeUmes you need to just step away from your laptop. It’s ok! Everyone should be able to (carefully! ;) ) throw their computer across the room/couch/desk every once in a while and simply take a break. It’s hard. I get it! As community managers we get used to being online at all Umes, solving problems for our customers day in and day out, at preby much any Ume of the day or night. I have a friend who has a sign on his monitor that reads: “Is the world on fire? If no, stop. If yes, call a firefighter.” there are two important principles here. A) we are not expected to be online 24/7. we’re simply not. And if that IS the expectaUon, you need to sit down and have a serious conversaUon with your manager. This should not be the case. No excepUons. It doesn’t maber how small or large your team is. It doesn’t maber what your role is. It doesn’t maber if you’re the only experienced person on the team. Yes, there will be Umes when you need to work overUme or odd hours or stay up late fixing a parUcular problem, or wriUng a presentaUon. But this should not be the norm, and if it is, talk to your manager. If it doesn’t change, I’m sure you can find people here today who are hiring ;) and B) there are other people who will step up and take responsibility for you when you can’t! we’re not responsible to fix everyone’s problems, no maber how much it feels like it. I acUvely make sure that I do not have access to our support UckeUng system, because, guess what? We have a whole team of people whose job it is to manage that! I acUvely make sure that I’m not on sales calls, because, guess what, our sales team have technical folks just for that reason! I’m not the only one who can help, and if I give people the impression that I am, then I’m 34

(2nd slide) SomeUmes you need to just step away from your laptop. It’s ok! Everyone should be able to throw their computer across the room/couch/desk every once in a while and simply take a break. It’s hard. I get it! As community managers we get used to being online at all Umes, solving problems for our customers day in and day out, at preby much any Ume of the day or night. I have a friend who has a sign on his monitor that reads: “Is the world on fire? If no, stop. If yes, call a firefighter.” there are two important principles here. A) we are not expected to be online 24/7. we’re simply not. And if that IS the expectaUon, you need to sit down and have a serious conversaUon with your manager. This should not be the case. No excepUons. It doesn’t maber how small or large your team is. It doesn’t maber what your role is. It doesn’t maber if you’re the only experienced person on the team. Yes, there will be Umes when you need to work overUme or odd hours or stay up late fixing a parUcular problem, or wriUng a presentaUon. But this should not be the norm, and if it is, talk to your manager. If it doesn’t change, I’m sure you can find people here today who are hiring ;) and B) there are other people who will step up and take responsibility for you when you can’t! we’re not responsible to fix everyone’s problems, no maber how much it feels like it. I acUvely make sure that I do not have access to desk.com, which is our support UckeUng system, because, guess what? We have a whole team of people whose job it is to manage that! I acUvely make sure that I’m not on sales calls, because, guess what, our sales team have technical folks just for 35

Learn to say no. easiest way to do this? Get your manager’s buy-in that you have to run things past them before you commit to projects outside of your department. Make them the bad guy. It’s what they’re there for! It’s their job to protect you – you’re a precious asset to them. Also say no to your personal life. Take Ume off to focus on you. 36

(2nd slide) Learn to say no. easiest way to do this? Get your manager’s buy-in that you have to run things past them before you commit to projects outside of your department. Make them the bad guy. It’s what they’re there for! It’s their job to protect you – you’re a precious asset to them. Also say no to your personal life. Take Ume off to focus on you. 37

Speaking of personal Ume… Use your calendar. No really, use it. Two ways: - Timebox things, including personal Ume to recharge. - — When you’ve got big projects, block out Umes on the calendar to make progress. Interrupt-driven work is a bad, bad thing. - — let your team know you’re going to be offline, or on do not disturb, etc. for a lible while, and unless something’s acUvely on fire, you aren’t to be disturbed. chances are, everything will be just fine… and even if it’s not, they can likely handle it. 38

Speaking of keeping things on the calendar so you can’t skip them… VacaUon. Plan for it. Plan ahead for it. Have a vacaUon on the calendar at all Umes, even if it’s just a long weekend. Give yourself something to look forward to! Which reminds me… when you’re on vacaUon, Be. On. VacaUon. Set your slack name and username to include PTO or OOO next to them so that people know you won’t be genng back to them for a while, and then turn the noUficaUons off on your phone. Put up your work away message (and your personal one, if necessary!) and again, turn off the noUficaUons on your phone. Don’t bring your laptop with you unless it’s to watch movies or neSlix, etc., and if that’s the case, shut down any and all work-related programs before leaving on vacaUon. Now some people may say “I don’t have Ume for vacaUon!” or “I’ll plan a nice big vacaUon when I have Ume”… but when will we ever have Ume? At a previous company, where we had unlimited vacaUon (which can actually be managed well and implemented for the right reasons, but that’s a whole other conversaUon)… My boss’s manager once told him, “look, if you don’t have the Ume to plan a vacaUon, give me your budget and any absolute “can’t fly” dates, and I’ll book it for you.” That’s a good manager! There’s a book called “Overwhelmed”, by a woman named Brigid Schullte, that walks through a lot of Ume management and burnout philosophy. One of the things that 39

At the very least (emphasis on very, very least) we all have 4 hours every 2 weeks that we can take off from work. Repeat acer me: it’s only 4 hours. And tell your boss… it’s only 4 hours every two weeks. 4 hours out of 80. 4 hours that will make you stronger, more effecUve, more efficient, and more moUvated to do your work on a regular basis. It can also lead to great ideas of how to lead and grow your community as you take the Ume to step back and see the forest as well as the trees. So here’s what it involves: - Find a place where you can relax, get comfortable, spread out, and dig in. Whether that’s a coffee shop, the library, a hiking trail, the pool, etc. Find that spot - During the first hour, delierately disconnect from your normal day-to-day work. If you need to wrap up a few things before you can completely disconnect, cool, go ahead and do those. If you need to spread out your equipment, cool. Whatever you need to do in order to disconnect. I usually wrap up a few things and then go for a run or a nice walk with Ember to get my brain off of work things. - During the 2nd and 3rd hours, find something that is construcUve and helpful, but allows you to stay disconnected from your everyday work. SomeUmes, this is digging into more lessons on codecademy, someUmes it’s reading the latest business/work-related book I’ve picked up, or whiteboarding the latest topic I’ve 40

Here’s what my calendar invite typically looks like. And yes, I have this on my calendar. Timeboxing, remember? That way I can’t skip it. 41

Next… When you’re sick… BE. SICK! Take advantage of sick days / vacaUon Ume / whatever your call it at your company. Use it. And stay offline. You might be amazed at how much more quickly you heal! 42

Along those same lines… when you’re needing mental care, get it. Mentall illness, depression, anxiety… All of these things are NORMAL, and important, and a medical condiUon just like a broken hand or an infecUon. Don’t let anyone tell you differently. Get help! Start by taking a look at your company insurance policy. Many insurance policies allow for a small number of psychologist or psychiatrist visits at no charge. No charge! What do you have to lose? A former colleague of mine told me once that he went to a different psychologist every year for the designated 4 free visits that were allowed under our insurance company, if for no other reason than to have someone to yell at, cry with, and word-vomit over who wouldn’t care what he said or tell anyone that he sounded crazy, etc. – frankly, they were genng paid to listen to him! It allowed him to sort some things out in his head, keep tabs on how he was handling situaUons on a day-to-day basis, and get feedback from a neutral 3rd party. 43

Find your own communiUes, and do what you can to invest in that community! I know it’s difficult when you’re on the road as ocen as most of us are, but Meetup has more than just tech talks… ;) also? It can be used for topics you’re interested in, not just meetups that your company is sponsoring or that you’re speaking at. 44

Also, find places that connect with you. Where you can be at peace. Where you can be sUll. Where your brain can unwind and you don’t have to think too hard about anything. The places that allow you to take a break. 45

Make a list of things that make you happy. Make a list of places you can go when you lose focus. Make a list of “emergency to-dos” that you turn to when it’s just too difficult. Keep an emergency box of things that you KNOW will get you out of your funk if and when it happens. I read an arUcle a lible while ago that I’ve unfortunately lost track of, but it suggested having a list of 10 or so acUviUes that you know make you happy on a regular basis that you can choose from when you’re hinng a rough patch. It also suggested a “burnout box” where you’ve got your favorite book, favorite game, favorite movie, a few favorite photos, etc…. Things that again, you know make you smile. Acer reading that, I created an Evernote note Utled “a few of my favorite things” that has a few images, including this one, as well as a list of things that I know make me happy. When I’m having a rough day, I’ll open that up and look at the photos, or choose something to do from the list 46

So who am I to be saying all of these things? Like I said, I’m not a doctor. I’m not a medical professional. I haven’t studied psychology or psychiatry or any other sort of – ology or –iatry. But I do know what I’m talking about to a certain extent. Some of you know, about a year ago… i burned out really hard. I’m beber. Not 100%, but beber. Part of the reason it took me as long as it did to recover was because I didn’t do those things. I didn’t take care of myself. I didn’t reach out to my community. I was scared about the repercussions and I was terrified of the percepUon, but that only served to hurt me more. 47

These days, I’m lucky enough to have a community, both personal and professional, who I know will look out for me and check in on me. And I say “lucky enough”, but it didn’t come from luck… it came from working hard at it. And I have to conUnually work hard at it! But it’s worth it. <SWITCH!!!> Take a moment and look around you. Everyone in this room understands the situaUon you’re in. Everyone understands just how pressing and stressful and confusing our jobs are. Everyone understands what it’s like to need Ume to yourself, and need a community to rally around you. This is your community. These are your people, whether you know them yet or not. Draw close to these people and learn to rely on them when you feel like no one understands what you’re going through. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or admit that you aren’t ok, or depend on others to keep you going for a while. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. 48

Take a moment and look around you. Everyone in this room understands the situaUon you’re in. Everyone understands just how pressing and stressful and confusing our jobs are. Everyone understands what it’s like to need Ume to yourself, and need a community to rally around you. This is your community. These are your people, whether you know them yet or not. Draw close to these people and learn to rely on them when you feel like no one understands what you’re going through. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or admit that you aren’t ok, or depend on others to keep you going for a while. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. 49

Take a moment and look around you. Everyone in this room understands the situaUon you’re in. Everyone understands just how pressing and stressful and confusing our jobs are. Everyone understands what it’s like to need Ume to yourself, and need a community to rally around you. This is your community. These are your people, whether you know them yet or not. Draw close to these people and learn to rely on them when you feel like no one understands what you’re going through. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or admit that you aren’t ok, or depend on others to keep you going for a while. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. 50

Take a moment and look around you. Everyone in this room understands the situaUon you’re in. Everyone understands just how pressing and stressful and confusing our jobs are. Everyone understands what it’s like to need Ume to yourself, and need a community to rally around you. This is your community. These are your people, whether you know them yet or not. Draw close to these people and learn to rely on them when you feel like no one understands what you’re going through. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, or admit that you aren’t ok, or depend on others to keep you going for a while. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. 51

And that’s the amazing thing about this community as well – even though we don’t all live near each other, we’ve got each other online. You’ve got people at your fingerUps at almost any Ume of the day who would be more than happy to talk you through things and empathize with where you’re at. Don’t underesUmate the value of this! 52

Lastly, don’t underesUmate the value of YOU. We are valuable. We are important. We are influenUal. And we are worth taking care of. QuoUng one more Ume from Overwhelmed, Brigit finds herself talking to Danish women, who seemingly have all the Ume in the world for leisure, and feel no guilt about it, but also manage to get things done in a Umely fashion. The woman that she’s speaking with says, “Having leisure Ume for myself isn’t something we even have to discuss. It’s just natural.” Bridgit replies, “And you don’t feel guilty? Selfish? That you’re neglecUng your children? Worried about the to-do list?” The women give me a blank look. “I think Danish women,” Soren finally says, “perhaps know their worth.” <pause> We are worth taking care of. 53

So I’ve talked through who I am and why I’m here today – my journey with diabetes and Ember, as well as my struggle with burnout. 54

We’ve talked about you – some of the numbers around depression and burnout in people in tech, as well as community professionals. 55

And we’ve talked about what to do about burnout… both how to prevent it and how to slowly recover from it. And it is a slow recovery! I’m probably at 70% these days, and that means some days are awesomely producUve, every once in a while, one is horriflcly bad, and most days, they’re somewhere in the middle. But most importantly, I know that it’s real. I know that I don’t need to be ashamed of it. And I know I have a community to help me. 56

I’m going to close with this quote from an arUcle in Community Round Table, called “The Dark Side of Community Management” Passion is what drives you and gives your life meaning. Obsession is what happens when you’re fixated on soemthing, forsaking all the rest. Understand the difference between passion and obsession to change your thoughts and acUons. Find balance by culUvaUng other interests offline. So today, let’s be awesome. Let’s be incredible. Let’s be passionate… but let’s be balanced. 57

Thank you! 58