An Introvert Once Again. Amen.

I officially ended my reign as the Cheer Coordinator for our Pop Warner organization on Saturday.

 

Can you hear the angels singing?

 

Listen.  I can!

 

Not that I don't believe in volunteering and giving back and participating in the activities your children do.

 

Because I totally do.

 

I just believe in it in small doses.

 

Very small doses.

 

And only with certain people.

 

And only when I feel like it.

 

Unfortunately being a board member of an organization of over 300 children and having the word coordinator in my title really didn't lend itself to my usual volunteering parameters.

 

The Cheer Coordinator role was certainly not a good fit for this non-participating mom who used her youngest child as a non volunteering excuse until that youngest child grew so old that she was actually participating in activities too and then felt so guilty about all her non volunteering years that she ended up over compensating.

Or something like that.
 

By nature I am an introvert.  I don't mind socializing and getting out there every once in a while, but again I like to do it on my own terms.
 

 

And there are certain things that this non-participating introvert doesn't want to do...

 

Go to meetings in the evenings. 

Ever.  I would much rather be snug in my pajamas negotiating with my older children and snuggling my youngest to sleep.  I even like cooking dinner better than going to meetings at night.

 

Be forced to hang out and socialize at practices. 

Sometimes I just want to drop and run, or hang out in the car while I text and play songpop and wwf, or sit with someone like me and make snarky comments.

 

Stay at competitions all day long. 

Honestly by the end of one session this girl is DONE.

 

Feel like I have to go to every game. 

Sometimes I just want to see my child play and sometimes I actually want to make other plans and not even watch my own child play (yup I'll admit it.)

 

Hear another complaint from a parent about a youth sports organization that is entirely run by volunteers. 
For real people, get a grip.

 

I give myself credit for breaking out of my box by taking the coordinator role, but honestly I am almost 40 and I know when I have had enough.  I definitely had had enough.

 

I guess I could consider it a social experiment.  Could a full time working mom of three whom is a natural introvert handle essentially another full time job (at its peak at least 30 hours a week and during off season still about 10-15 hours a week) that required her to be cordial, social, patient, and accepting of people "who just didn't get it" on a daily basis?

 

Yes for about 20 months.  And then I cracked.  And could not take it for a minute longer.  I just really really really had to get out.

 

And now, that it's official, I feel like a 100 lb weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  `

 

Don't get me wrong. 

 

I appreciate all you volunteers.

 

Especially the ones who volunteer in leadership roles.

 

I just don't want to be you.

 

Ever.

 

Again.
 

 

How about you?  Are you a volunteering superstar?  Or do you like to hang out in the background, avoiding eye contact with all the perky people holding clipboards (By the way I totally plan do the latter now.  Again.)?

 

I am linking up with Shell today to Pour My Hear Out.