A 🥑 Developcado 🥑 Falling From Gravitee

Whew. Coming off of the whirlwind of the 5-day conference of Denver Startup Week, Saturday, I slept. Today, I’ve been a ball of emotions feeling incredibly raw. That’s always the best time to post, right? ;) Possibly not. I’m writing from the point of reflection of the last 7 weeks. Falling from Gravitee, loving being a Developcado (DevRel), and what it would take to continue to be so full-time.

To recap, the consulting as a Developcado the last 7 weeks involved, 4 Meetups, 3 blog posts, 1 Conference, 1 Demo, 2 Fav Feature Videos, and an increase in Community numbers by 42% while at the Denver Startup Week. That’s not even counting the 15 episodes of Teach Jenn Tech or the 6 Mental Health & Neurodiversity in Tech Twitter Spaces I’ve hosted. It does count in the fact that I’ve fallen behind on my passion project Sh!t You Don't Want to Talk About Podcast. It’s been hard to balance life, passions, and work. I’ve observed my passion transforming to continue to be the impact of being a thread of connection through each event and each piece of content I’ve created.

Let me explain, I know that sounds slightly “out” there. Content creation on a continual basis is new for me. I admit I’ve always done SOME type of content creation. Yet there has always been a distinct disconnect between work and life. Now, between being a Developcado (DevRel) which includes constantly learning about the product, people, networking, and life outside of work I started hosting a live stream, writing blogs, continuing the podcast, figuring out social, and I’m sure there’s more I’m forgetting has become a bit much. Or has it?

There’s a hidden beauty in being able to reflect and become self-aware. I’m still on the fence about deciding if it’s an enjoyable experience. Thus far, I know it’s worth it, it’s just not fun. I like fun yet fun does not always include fulfillment. I am finding my way to fulfillment by asking myself the following questions:

1. What are my priorities?
2. Are there any parts of my life that feel neglected?
3. When was the last time I felt I was making an impact?
4. When was the last time I had fun?
5. What are items that make me feel rested?
6. What are items that exhaust me?
7. When was the last time I felt loved?
8. When was the last time I felt I was showing love?
9. When was the last time time passed quickly?
10. When was the last time time passed slowly?

Now you may see why this practice may not feel so fun 😅

1 . What are my priorities?

• My Family
• Human Connection / Advocating for others
• Creating space to
• Making time to enjoy life
• Paying of debt to do all of the above

2 . Are there any parts of my life that feel neglected?

• Yeaaaah…. Our house was a mess after the conference 😅
• The podcast

3 . When was the last time I felt I was making impact?

• “…being a thread of connection through each event and piece of content I’ve created”

4 . When was the last time I had fun?

• This is where work/life overlap each other. Events are love/hate for me. I LOVE THEM and talking to people, so many curiosity questions that are answered. There’s such a large world out there and each human has their own view of it. Its lovely!
• Teach Jenn Tech
• Solving puzzles 🧩 Creating content is a BIG one
• Horse riding
• Playing video games
• Exploring

5 . What are items that exhaust me? (Yes, I’m answering this out of order than above)

• Events
• Creating content
• Lack of freedom
• Not taking time to rest throughout the day

6 . What are items that make me feel rested?

• Naps
• Making the house cold & hiding under the blankets to play video games
• Going thrifting

7 . When was the last time I felt loved?

• Today 🥰, my partner Tyler, allows me the space to recover from events at my own speed and he cooked me dinner and tells me I’m pretty 😍
• Being encouraged at work to do what I do best, connecting with others on a human to human level. 🥹

8 . When was the last time I felt I was showing love?

• Connect and network while pushing past my exhaustion to hype up others
• Catching up on house chores today
• Walking the doggo
• Calling the fam

9 . When was the last time time passed quickly?

• Sleeping yesterday… where did the day go?! 😂
• Any event, especially Denver Startup Week, I don’t know where an ENTIRE WEEK WENT??!!

10 . When was the last time time passed slowly?

• Watching football hanging out on the couch 😂
• Doing any reports
• Creating social media posts
• Things that do not involve human connection

11 .BONUS QUESTION: How do I feel about all of this? Any further realizations?

*- That what I love to do also exhausts me, human connection.
*
There’s a lot we can learn from asking ourselves these questions. Outside of the initial thought that human connection is what I wake up in the morning to create is also what exhausts me, it’s not being a Developcado (DevRel) that I struggle with, it’s finding a balance between work/projects and life that I struggle with. I can be found working on being a Developcado, Teach Jenn Tech, or Sh!t You Don't Want to Talk About Podcast, the majority of the time. What would happen if I took a step back? There are rituals I can create to help myself with balance.

You may have heard of rituals, which could also be called routines. They have been the bane of my existence since I was a child. It was much later in life that I found it’s more than likely due to symptoms of my diagnosis of ADHD, Bi-Polar Type 2, PTSD, Depression, and Anxiety. Where therapy has taught me many tools that I have in my toolbox, I found it has more than I would like to credit to the freedom I am allowed in my work. I found that this tweet by Sasha Perigo said it best:

_With ADHD I have exactly three types of work days:

✔️ Get absolutely nothing done

✔️ Get 4 hours of work done, at a random time of day

✔️ Get 40 hours of work done in 8 hours_

Being a Developcado, Host of Teach Jenn Tech, and Host of Sh!t You Don’t Want to Talk About allows me to have the freedom to follow my passion of human connection and advocating for others. While I continue the journey to finding my own rituals, I realize I do need to take a break from the computer. Take a break from the continuous desire to see the world a better place. Take a break to breathe. Go play video games. Cuddle with the doggo. I won’t be able to become my best self, if I don’t teach myself to pace myself. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. As I say goodbye for the day, I’m curious, what rituals do you live by?