BY SARAH BONFORTE
PALS Chicago 2024 Program Lead
I’ve never been good at juggling… Or so I thought? After being a Program Lead, I learned that juggling several commitments is manageable with a little bit of planning and all of your heart.
Once I got acclimated to my first full-time job after graduating college, I knew I wanted to try something new. But, would I even have time to be a Program Lead? I was nervous about the time commitment of putting together an entire program, in addition to the responsibilities of my job and making time for myself. Taking this leap of faith turned out to be one of my favorite things I’ve ever done.
My 9-5 job is jam-packed every day. It looks like a lot of phone calls, research, data analysis, and management tasks for my clients, plus a commute. On top of that, it’s important to me to prioritize what makes me the best version of myself: spending time with my family, seeing my friends (attending weekly trivia is a must-do), getting lots of exercise in, cooking for myself, and all those other fun things that adults do.
Then, of course, we have something else I hold so closely to my heart: PALS. I’ve been volunteering with PALS since 2019. Having been both a Peer and a Team Lead (in-person and virtually), I realized I wanted to try a new role. I applied and interviewed for the role of Program Lead at the end of December. By February, I was offered the role and had started preparing for camp.
That said, the question remains: how do you make time to prioritize non-work related activities with only so many hours left in the day?
What worked well for my co-leads and I was time together; we had a set hour-long block every week to put our heads together. In this time together, we would brainstorm, discuss tasks and timelines, execute those assignments, and check in with one another (including about our lives). From there, we would split up and take care of our respective tasks throughout the rest of the week. If life got busy and we couldn’t make our time block, communicating this change in advance set us up for success, and we would adapt our meeting time or format.
Additionally, we had unwavering support from the PALS Staff to guide us through this process and answer any possible question we could have.
Some parts of my life shifted and became more scheduled: going to the gym before work instead of after, having set family dinners on Mondays, and coordinating dates to see friends in advance. These changes took some time to adjust, but it was so. worth. it.
Seeing months and months of preparation on paper come to life for 145 actual humans during the end of July was an incredibly special and rewarding experience. From first-day introductions to goodbye tears being wiped away - How lucky am I to have been able to watch the magic of PALS unfold before my eyes?! To have played a part in creating a space for so many hugs, memories, and friendships is a gift that I will forever be thankful for.
If you’ve been thinking about trying something new, take that chance! It may turn into magic!