Thread by @ThePlanetaryGuy

Normalise backing off from things when you realise you're overcommitted/out of spoons—a short, personal 🧵

Yesterday, I let the organisers of an upcoming conference know that I was withdrawing my abstract.

I really didn't want to do this.

(1/)

But I realised that I had way too much on my plate to get my presentation done.

Bad planning? Maybe. But a bunch of new stuff arose between the abstract and now.

So after thinking long and hard about it, and prioritising what I absolutely *have* to do, I made the call.

(2/)

The folks running the meeting were very understanding, and I'll certainly *attend* the conference and will contribute as I can.

I feel bad for dropping this ball—it's the first time I've ever done this.

But I also feel *much* more relieved.

(3/)

I don't advocate doing this lightly, nor submitting stuff to meetings/ other activities you don't intend on following up on.

But this is not a usual time, and preparing content for online meetings (whether posters, or talks, synchronous or asynchronous) is *exhausting*.

(4/)

Anyway, I'm posting this in case it helps someone else, perhaps more junior than I, to know that it's OK to put themselves first and back away from something they can't manage.

It really is OK, because we all have finite resources. Use them as well as you can.

(5/5)