Trade-offs and Triumphs 16 by @jennykim
Issue 16: Hitting the Wall, Active Resting, New to Me
Hello, friends! Thank you to my 81 subscribers, and welcome to my new subscribers!
Welcome to issue 16!
How was your week? What were your trade-offs and triumphs?
This week’s issue is inspired by a Twitter chat between Amanda Goetz and Dan Greenwald:
Hitting the Wall but Using Active Resting
Last week - I hit a wall, both literally and figuratively.
It was Thursday morning, and in between completing work assignments, I had to deal with my mother’s cardiologist appointment. She was fractious (are we allowed to use that word when we are speaking of our parents and not infants?). She wanted the questions asked exactly as she had phrased them. I flipped through the stenopad and sighed deeply.
The cardiologist appointment was uneventful - no one seems to be able to hypothesize why my mother is dizzy constantly and whether any of the medications contributed to her fall in the bathroom. We need to go for more tests. During COVID, my mother is not too eager to step into a doctor’s office for more tests, so those were marked down as a future “to-do.”
I shut down the Ipad, sat down at my desk, and then stared at my to-dos. And then glanced at my calendar. For once, the day was clear. I picked up my phone and checked with my team. They blessed my taking the afternoon off.
And so I took last Thursday afternoon off and engaged in “active resting.” Other than checking emails periodically, I allowed my mind to wander, and I took a long walk around the neighborhood.
Friday and its long day of meetings became easier to tackle. It also became easier to nod and smile at my mother and her unceasing line of demands as she tried to keep her world in control and push away her unvoiced feelings of anxiety.
Lesson: filling up your days with activities does not equal productivity. Instead, it is better to shut it all down and take a long walk. Let your mind wander.
Otherwise, fractious parents will get the better of you.
When you hit a wall, how do you engage in active resting?
Active Resting: Finding What Works for You
Let’s face it - we have been on a COVID marathon since March. Many of us - like me - hoped that COVID would be a sprint, and we would have returned to the workplace by now. In March and April, I treated the COVID stay-at-home period as a sprint - with no commuting time and zero work travel, I had more hours in the day to focus on long-term work projects rather than just reacting to random questions from clients.
I also focused on become more efficient with my leisure time - “Dying of Plenty but Become Reinvigorated.”
Exercise? ✔️
Writing more regularly? ✔️
More family time? ✔️
More time with Athena the dog? ✔️
More active resting for Jenny? Well, like the classic Hertz commercial used to state, “There’s Hertz, and there’s not exactly.”
November is Gratitude month, and while it is important to demonstrate gratitude for others and their positive influences in your life, it is also equally important to demonstrate gratitude to yourself and cut yourself some slack.
So when you hit that wall, remember to focus on you, and calm your brain down:
💡 Limit how much time you spend on social media - declare your intent and enlist friends and families (and for those of you who have children, have your children police you).
💡 Stay away from other people’s panic.
💡 Ground yourself in the present.
💡 Make a list of what you find joyful and fun, and then plan on how you will fit these into your week.
💡 Unplug. Log off.
💡 Call a friend who makes you laugh and catch up.
Or, as Pranav advises in How to Escape the Chatter:
Take 5 during your lunch break to take a walk, breathe quietly, or sit outside without your phone 📱, laptop 💻 or any notifications
Take 1 minute every day to look at the beautiful colors of the sunset ☀️ (or the gloomy colors of the clouds ☁️).
Right after work put your phone 📱 and laptop 💻 in another room. Time yourself, for 30 minutes do something without going to retrieve either.
Additionally, ask yourself these self-care questions to ensure your emotional resiliency, per Alejandro:
Share your “active resting” routines in the Comments section or send me an email (jennykimwop@gmail.com).
New to Me
📹 Tomorrow, it begins… Minimum Viable Video cohort led by Cam Houser and Julia Saxena. I am excited to be a part of it but also resigned to looking foolish.
For more information, check out this conversation between Cam and Julia about how video is an important communication medium.
🏆 So sometimes email sends you pleasant surprises - last Friday, I opened my email and learned that I have been named to DCA Live’s 2020 Top Corporate Counsel. Congratulations to all the other award recipients, and I am honored to be on such a distinguished list.
And of course, I had to answer some questions as an awardee 👇👇👇
Have any questions or comments? You can find me on Twitter @jennykim or email me at jennykimwop@gmail.com
Check out my website for more: puttingittogether.blog
No lie as a trade-off is ever worth the temporary illusion of triumph. Keep on cultivating that rubber ball heart.
And, find that trade-off that will lead to triumph this week, no matter how small, and celebrate it.
See you next week!
Congratulations Jenny!!! :)