Time and sustainability

I worked out the other day that the various things I'm committed to (paid work, activism, food-growing, writing, other bits & pieces) add up to approximately a 50-hour week (that's excluding the 5 hours I work on Saturdays). Which... is a lot.

Then there's the things that keep showing up in my inbox, or on mailing lists, or in leaflets I see in Non-Commercial House or LARC. So many things that I would love to get involved in, and that would be valuable uses of my time. Except for where I already have no time left.

I know that activism has to be sustainable; that you need to look after yourself and avoid burnout. (It's also my experience that far too often, that's not seen as a priority -- that there can be an attitude whereby it's encouraged to run yourself into the ground for a cause. But that's for another post.) But there is so much that I could be doing, and I don't know how to choose or prioritise it.

The best I can do at the moment is to try to be honest about what I actually get something out of for myself (because you won't work well at something that you're doing reluctantly); and to watch my tendency to overcommit when I'm just trying things out. I keep reminding myself that it's OK to try things out, to work out where I want to spend my energies.

My gut instinct is that what I'm doing at the moment isn't long-term sustainable; so I need to do something about it. But that doesn't help me work out what to drop whilst still feeling satisfied with how I'm spending my time. If anything, it's a constant battle not to take more things on. Tales of other people's experiences of managing this would be gratefully appreciated!