My Annual Vacation
“About time, it’s time for your annual visit to the hospital”.
Those were the words a friend used as I headed in for surgery this weekend. It sounds like a joke, but the reality is sobering. For the last three years, every year since I started VAll, I have landed in a hospital bed around this exact time.
It has become a predictable, painful cycle: I push myself to the absolute limit through December, fueled by the excitement of what we are building. Then, around January or February, my body starts protesting. Eventually, it just gives up.
This year, it was gallstones. I knew they were there. I could have dealt with them easily months ago. But I ignored the signals until the last two weeks, when my body finally revolted with a fever, severe inability to eat and a clear message: No more.
I am not sure how many of you entrepreneurs do this, but I have realised that while I talk a lot about work-life balance, work tends to consume me. I practice throttle therapy with motorcycling, and my diet is regulated, but my physical well-being is still being ignored or pushed to a limit, resulting in my being in the hospital.
As Aarti Mohan recently mentioned in our VTalk ( VTalk with Aarti) conversation, there are no “lifestyle entrepreneurs” in social impact.
When you take on a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) as I have at VAll, aiming to shift the trajectory for youth employability and civic engagement, it doesn’t just occupy your time; it consumes your spirit. Every day brings a new dilemma that feels urgent because the stakes are human. I love every second of that challenge, but I’ve realised I’m treating my “self” as an infinite resource when I’m actually a finite one.
I’ve heard it for years. At my last job, someone told me, “You are Superwoman; you just keep going.” I heard it again a few weeks ago from my team at VAll. But here is the truth: I am not Superwoman. I am just a woman. And while being a woman gives me immense strength, it doesn't make me bionic. I have limitations, and ignoring them doesn't make me stronger; it just makes me sidelined.
A Question for the Community
I am deeply in love with what I am creating, but I’ve realised I need to be a better steward of the person doing the creating.
To my fellow entrepreneurs and leaders:
How do you stop the mission from consuming the maker?
What are your non-negotiables?
How do you counter the crazy goals so they don’t push you past the breaking point?
How do you stay in love with the work without losing yourself to it?
For all who want to know, I’m home and recovering with the parents and sister spoiling me rotten.
Also, Happy Women’s Day…a little message from the women in my family for my 50-day series for building your career.
