How does it feel?
Obligatory mention of Blue Monday goes here … (did you lock up when you left the house?)
I have just about got past the “I MUST DO EVERYTHING IMMEDIATELY” stage of voluntary redundancy but my head seemed no less busy at the start of this week. In search of a cure, I gave in and embraced the annual stream of Blue-Monday-avoiding wellness tips that ironically drives us all slightly closer to the edge each January.
I’ve always liked the sound of being less mentally frazzled but who’s got the time? Well, I guess I do, now. Plus, I’d already noticed some improvement since I quit work. Y’know the thing that sends you scurrying back to the house when you’re 10 steps down the road? “Did you lock the door? Hmm, did you? Are you sure? You should go back and check….” Well, for me that thing is the gas cooker. I always, always check when I leave the house. Every time, even if I haven’t used the cooker. And then, predictably, I leave the house and think “did I check the gas?”. (If you buy her a drink, my friend Rachel will tell you a story about the time we had to get a taxi across Edinburgh so I could go back and check. No, really.) Anyway, I haven’t stopped checking BUT I have started remembering that I checked and no longer need to scuttle back home. I proudly told someone about this development and her response was: “Why did you need to check the gas? Had you been using it?” No, I thought, doesn’t everyone check the gas? A straw poll of my Facebook friends reveals that is not remotely the case. Oh. Still bonkers. Dammit.
So, which mind-quietening tactics have I tested this week, I hear you excitedly cry. To which I say, you need to calm down a bit, mate. Stop shouting.
Obviously, because I’m a mid-life woman, I’m no stranger to yoga and regularly spend time with Adriene. But I decided to push it a bit further and joined a seven-day self-care challenge, courtesy of Move Well with Kat. Now, I know what you’re thinking but the emphasis is most definitely on “challenge” - flipping heck, it’s like some sort of head-wellness bootcamp with seven tasks to complete per day. None the less, I gave it a spin after reading that just sticking my head out of the window would count for the daily “go outside” task and watching a film counts towards “me time”. So far I am averaging four-and-a-half out of seven per day.
Separately, I stumbled upon an excellent free thing on Substack: The Daily Respite. It drops around about elevenses time every day and is basically just a single video with which to take a tiny break. Could be anything: sliding down the side a Swiss mountain, Stevie Wonder singing, sunrise over a light-sculpture dedicated to Carl Sagan, or just a happy donkey running through a pasture. A few minutes with a cuppa and the daily injection of joy has made the past week of dark, rainy days a bit brighter.
There is a point to all this though. Last week’s news that I had bagged a place on a novel-writing course showed me, with big flashing lights, where I should be focusing my energy - but I’m still losing half the day to life-min. In fact, the only full day of work I’ve done was on a one-day writer’s retreat (remote, natch) - which could be described as me paying someone to make me ring-fence some time and then sit down and concentrate.
All of this wellness and self-care stuff might easily be seen as another time-suck or bit of procrastination but, on the other hand, it does seem to be teaching me how to turn the volume down on my busy brain and let me concentrate for extended periods.
I’ll let you know whether I stop worrying about the hob.
Exciting event of the week
I have lost 2lbs by simply not eating Quality Street and cheese five times a day now that the festive treats have finally run out. Maybe I should start a diet tips blog...
CV clinic
No 2: keep your appraisal forms
This is a bit of an extension of the previous tip but I highly recommend hanging on to your appraisal forms, should you work for a company that goes in for this sort of thing. I always thought appraisals were the biggest waste of everyone’s time. Nobody tells the truth, largely because everything is written down and put on file. Your boss says nice positive things; you say vaguely enthusiastic things; your boss asks what training you’d like and you tell them - both of you secure in the knowledge that this will never happen because the training budget won’t cover it. Then you sign the form and everyone forgets about the whole wretched business.
But wait! Those forms do have a use after all. Being made to justify your existence with a list of what the hell it is you’ve been doing with your time for the past 12 months does actually capture a lot of achievements. It is the fine detail - examples of the work you did, rather than just a list of your responsibilities. There is a world of difference. I wish I’d kept more of these forms.
Stationery corner
This one was among the half-finished notebooks in my work locker. Origin unknown. No, I don’t know why people didn’t take me more seriously either...
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Have you cleaned your oven yet?