Tell me if this story rings true for you.
You are overscheduled and are racing from one appointment or activity to another. Dinner is rushed and maybe eaten in the car or on the fly.
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Years ago, when I was teaching junior high (grades 7 – 9), I had a mentor that used a phrase I’ll never forget. While I can’t remember the reason he was in my classroom talking to my class, I remember the interaction well.
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Last week, I was setting up my Facebook Live and the tech wouldn’t work. I kept trying to click through the options and it kept stalling and I was stuck. I skipped one week and in that time Facebook changed the interface. I didn’t know if I was doing something wrong, or if the issues were on their end, but I just felt the anxiety and stress creep up as 8:30 am came and then passed
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Do you remember a time when you smiled at someone, and they smiled back? When someone gave you a compliment? When someone paid for your coffee in a drive through lane?
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Fail better? I’d never heard that phrase before I first read about it in Michael Bungay Stanier’s book: The Coaching Habit. But as I read it, I put stars beside it and made a note to reflect on it, and it’s been swirling around my brain for the past few months.
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The other day, as I was walking, I was lamenting to myself that the FFTs never seem to end. Certainly the pandemic, which is still sticking around, has forced us into a plethora of first times, but I dug deeper as I reflected. Is doing something for the first time bad?
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While we are climbing out of the pandemic and starting to return to many of the things we might term “normal,” the effects of it are still very much with us. I have struggled with motivation, amongst other things, over the past 16 months.
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I was reading a book the other night: The 4% Fix and came across this passage:
“Have you ever had a brilliant idea or solved what felt like an unsolvable problem in the shower, or just before falling asleep, or maybe when you’re sitting alone in nature? The quietness and stillness of your mind during these types of activities allow for thought processes that couldn’t get through the noise before.” (Karma Brown pp. 195-6)
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Last weekend I was feeling extremely overwhelmed. I had a to do list which seemed insurmountable, and no motivation to climb that mountain. I was coming off a busy week and had some looming deadlines which were creeping up faster than I would have liked.
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I am reading Brené Brown’s Daring Greatly, and I just finished the long chapter titled “Understanding and Combatting Shame.” It seems rather fitting as I spent a good chunk of my weekend working through just that.
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I have always thought I was a fairly positive person, but about 13 years ago, someone challenged me on that belief. I asked around and a couple people reinforced that despite how I saw myself, they saw me as leaning towards the negative. It shocked me and made me really think and reflect.
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I have lots of skills, however, maintaining perspective is not one which hits my top ten list at the best of times; in a pandemic, I often feel like I have absolutely no perspective.
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It was just over a month ago that I wrote about a search for gratitude and optimism (Searching for Optimism and Gratitude). I (re)started a gratitude practice, although I committed do finding gratitude every single day, regardless of circumstances for the whole month of December. I’ve done the practice in the past, however, when I had a really hard day(s), I tended to drop it. The irony of that, though, is those were the days, I truly needed it.
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As I scrolled social media the other day, I saw a meme that said
“Happy Shortest Day of the Longest Year of your Life”
I laughed and kept scrolling. As the day passed, however, I reflected more and more about this past year.
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I love Michael J. Fox. I remember watching him as Alex P. Keaton in “Family Ties,” and being drawn to his character. As I became older, I loved “Back to the Future” and “Spin City” too. I read his first memoir, “Lucky Man” when it was released in 2002 and it solidified my admiration.
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We’re living in a Pinterest World
I was out recently and heard someone remark that we are living in a Pinterest world, and it made me stop and really think.
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I just got back from doing errands and I feel exhausted. While I was out, I got an email from one of my kids’ schools saying there was a positive COVID-19 case and we would be notified if our child was considered a close contact and needed to isolate.
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There’s a phenomenon whereby if you make note of something, you start to notice it everywhere. For example, you buy a red car, and you start to see red cars everywhere. I wasn’t sure if it was more of an Urban Legend, but a quick Google search gives me actual names for it: Selection Bias, Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon and Red Car Syndrome.
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In the middle of a pandemic, I reflect on my goals and expectations, which I am finding incredibly difficult.
I looked back at some of the goals that I set for 2020 that I will not accomplish.
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This week has been tough. Heck, the past couple of weeks have been tough. Who am I kidding? The past 6 weeks have been tough.
I’m grieving. On so many levels, and for so many things. It seems to come at me from all sides and all angles, which is so different, and I’m unaccustomed to this barrage.
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