u/Lost-MiFen

I started working at a small non-profit (about 15 people) about a month and a half ago. Our department is tiny with just my director, me, and a part-time admin. I have been told that my role is actually supposed to be for 2 people, but they have not had the time/capacity to hire a second person so I am alone for the time being. The work that we do is very emotionally labourous, as 90% of what we do is outreach in housing and mitigating homelessness. Although we are not a crisis centre and strictly do not take on crisis level roles, I think the nature of our job working with vulnerable populations makes everything feel dire. Moreover, my director, though friendly enough, has a bit of a neurotic personality where they are often all over the place, and everything is urgent (when everything is urgent, then nothing is urgent, right?). Their personal burn-out is very evident in their work, and I think that makes for a poor leader (yet burn out is almost a given expectation within the non-profit world). I already find myself unintentionally working past my designated hours or missing a lunch break here and there, and this is almost seen as nonchalant part of the job.

I know that a large part of that is the new employee wanting to impress the employer mindset, but I don't want to continue with this precedence even if the work culture is accustomed to this. I also firmly believe that our job will not "solve" any social problems that are at the root of these issues, so burning myself out will not house more people. I try to remind myself that whether I over-work myself or not, people will still be un(der) housed, unemployed, and relying on food banks, because these are the results of centuries of structural inequalities.

I know I can't tell my director what to do, and they can choose to work however they want to conduct their program. However, I am struggling with my own people pleasing tendencies that end up having me do things that I don't intrinsically agree with. I would like to hear from more seasoned non-profit employees, particularly those who have worked in social work type of roles, on how you have maintained work-life balance. I want to have my boundaries set from the get-go so that my labour can't be exploited in the typical non-profit way. I often feel that they forget that I'm still really new to all of this and that I'm literally doing a 2 person job on my own (their words, not mine). Any advice and words of wisdom are welcome!

To all my Black girlies, please hit me up with your go to braider! Both home and salon are welcome, but I would prefer to support home businesses. I don't mind paying a fair and liveable-wage price, but ideally still affordable nonetheless. For context, I am in Surrey, but I don't mind traveling to other cities! TIA! :)

To all my Black girlies​! Hit me up with your go to braider in Surrey, both salon and home settings. I don't mind paying a fair and liveable-wage price, but ideally affordable nonetheless. TIA!!

I just graduated with my BA this month and did my entire degree through OL (I live in Vancouver and work full time). I ended up graduating with a 3.33 GPA, which is honestly mid as I know it would be a struggle for me to try to get into any graduate programs in the future. I am curious to see if folks have seen a trend in whether OL students tend to have higher or lower GPAs compared to on campus students?

I'm also curious to see how long it took folks in OL to complete their degree (took me almost 6 years).

I am traveling to Maryland for 4 days (from Canada). What is the best eSim that you recommend? Should I go for one that counts by GB or count by the number of days needed? I will mostly only be using it for navigation, web searches, and emergency.

I am 29f and have known that I have congenital heart problems since birth (had an aortic coarctation repaired at 10 days old and a big scar to prove it). Due to various factors and medical negligence on my mom's part, I stopped seeing a cardiologist after age 2 and basically gaslit into thinking I have no cardiovascular issue. Fast forward to 2019, I sought ​out to see a cardiologist on my own as an adult and learned that I have a bicuspid aortic valve. I think this diagnosis was missed at birth due to a language barrier and medical malpractice as I was born in a country where immigration was fairly uncommon in the 90s and I sustained a severe, permanent IV injury in my arm during treatment as a newborn. Long story short, it was a messy time but I hold no grudges against any party.

I now see a cardiologist every 3 years. I have mild regurgitation in the aortic valve along with several other valves in the heart. But the heart itself is looking healthy and so far my symptoms have not veered from my norm (my cardiologist tells me that this is a more accurate description than asymptomatic as having mild symptoms is the norm for many people, so we should be watching for changes away from the norm). My norm is slight out of breath when doing physical activities like climbing stairs, relatively low blood pressure, and occasional vertigo and palpitation. But again, this is my norm and I am being monitored regularly so I am not concerned right now.

Aside from just wanting to hear everyone else's story of having a bicuspid aortic valve, has anyone been pregnant and gone through labour and delivery with this defect? I don't have kids yet and and thinking about it in the foreseeable future, so I would like to hear what everyone's experience has been. Were you considered a high-risk pregnancy? Should I see my cardiologist before getting pregnant?