I have to be honest, and I’m sure this won’t come as a surprise to you, but I always like to start with disclaimers—just in case. Being a CEO, parent, partner, and generally a person is a balancing act that feels harder than juggling with your hands in your pockets. There’s a constant push and pull of energy, time, and physical presence. Truth be told, being a CEO reminds me of my doctorate journey. Going in, I knew there would be sacrifices, but the time spent in solitude—mostly in my basement—to focus was not on my three-year Bingo card in 2017 when I started that journey.
Side note: both paths can be lonely.
I read somewhere that only 8% of women are CEOs globally, and only 2% hold doctorate degrees. Another side note, but an informative one.
Those who have experienced one or both of these journeys might understand the constant desire to be, do, and give more.
You want to show up for those who support your work, but the kids have "a thing";
You want to respond to all 30 emails that came in today, but there’s a deadline you can’t ignore;
And you want to save all the whales—and I’ve been told my monthly financial contribution could do just that—but you also have a family to feed.
You want to give and give of yourself, but your glass is half full and, on a given day, it's just flat out empty. Most importantly, you want to do all these things... everything even, at 100%, and we all know the reward for great work is… more work. It’s hard!
In a recent post, I mentioned how much I love this time of year because it feels like an open invitation to be in community. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to connect and reconnect with folks which has had a mixed impact on me. Reconnecting is great until it's not and "not" enters right around the time when everyone has a "better idea" for your life, your schedule, and your work - a blog posting in itself, amirite? Often in those discussions, Meryl’s Safe Haven came up, or maybe it served as the foundation of the conversation. As a founder and CEO, I obviously live and breathe Meryl’s Safe Haven. I go to sleep thinking about how to better the organization and wake up weighing the pros and cons of those ideas; some of my best ideas come in places you wouldn’t believe, and I won’t share—but I digress. Because it may seem easy to only think about how to improve MSH and not the community in which we serve, know I show up this way in all settings. In fact, recently, after sitting in a meeting for just over an hour, we began to wrap up and something came over me - I couldn't help myself - I asked the group, "Are we better after this meeting than we were before it started?"; we were leaving and I didn't feel like we did anything to resolve the problem we entered the space to address - I felt some kind of way.
I’ve always recognized the importance of engaging with the community, all of my community engagement and volunteer work prior to this role prepared me for such. While discussing MSH and its mission comes naturally to me, I often reflect on the impact I aspired to make in my community even before the organization existed. I’m always happy to share where MSH stands today, my vision for its future, and even my eventual transition out as CEO - it’s inevitable. These conversations naturally include what I hope our long-term impact will be. However, to my own disappointment, I don’t often make it out to evening community gatherings as much as I’d like. My “Who’s Who of Worcester” has also been on a bit of a hiatus, though I’ve continued to connect and share the work of MSH in other meaningful ways. And while some have asked for more individualized communications, the reality of being a CEO is that countless priorities demand attention on any given day. This is where grace plays an essential role for myself and the person (or people) I am engaing with who might not understand just how demanding this job can be. Navigating the complexities of leadership requires understanding and patience—which starts with me. Extending grace allows us to embrace the human side of leadership, recognizing that even with the best intentions, there are limits to what can be accomplished in a day.
Now at the doors of 2025, my (our) commitment remains steadfast: to stand in spaces where there is a gap in shelter and offer what we can as an organization - with hopes of never doing more harm (if any) than good; to foster open dialogue about MSH, its mission, and its impact, to be responsible for our community while continuing to engage within the community in meaningful ways, even amid the challenges of one of the biggest balancing acts of my life. We entered 2024 with this resolution and will continue 2025 in celebration of where we were, where we’ve been, and where we're headed, consider joining us as we do just that at our 2nd Annual Rent Party fundraiser on January 25th! Your support would be invaluable!
Over the course of the year, I’ve seen more than ever before posts that say, “It costs nothing to share this…” But the reality is, it does cost you something, and it should. “Support” is an action verb for a reason! You’re making a declaration—an endorsement on some level. Whether it’s supporting the sobriety of someone you know by not offering them a drink or supporting the efforts of someone doing something they never thought they could, remember: there is a cost to support. Value isn’t always relative.
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