I have talked about this a little bit before, I have a friend who has a non-profit and has shown interest in me working for her. We talked about a possible role for me, the nature/outdoor leader of mindfulness. I sent some pictures of hiking areas and ideas to her ahead of the board meeting and got a positive response.
Fast forward to the board meeting, and that did not go well for me. I didn't feel as though I did a great job describing or making that connection with the other people. I shared my mindfulness experience personally and then talked about my background in grants. I was not the only one with concerns about the funding plan for pot money. In the meeting my friend said she wasn't sure how to use me in the organization, that was really embarrassing. However even at that time I felt that a lot of it was on her for jumping to making a job title, giving me a role, and then not being clear that we both had the same vision. I am not willing to teach mindfulness in nature by getting people in tune with a houseplant on their desks
Now she is talking about a different funding source and having me do creativity and mindfulness classes with disadvantaged youth communities. I am not sure I want to teach with her. I have wanted opportunities like this for many years so it feels like I should jump on the chance, however I have an overall bad feeling. She is committed to running a good organization and respecting people by not asking me for volunteer time. I did offer an hour of volunteer time to look over her survey/feedback questions for the end of a program. I have done so much of that in my last job that it would be quick. She never sent me anything or put it on our shared google drive.
I really value her as a friend, we are part of mutual groups and I enjoy all of those interactions with her. Part of these groups is about being more deeply honest than a lot of relationships. She is even planning our summer event to work with my retreat schedule since I missed it last summer. In that context I would like to talk about this, however she has 2 kids and is super busy. I think an email is the only way that I am going to be able to do this. The 2 things I really feel I need to say is something about my experience at the board meeting and then spending time being clear about this class or series of classes she would like me to teach. I am a little unsure of myself, the lasting effect of the previous year is confidence in my ability to express myself. It has been on my mind for some time now, so I am going to write a draft and run it by my job coach.
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