Archives for posts with tag: back to work

Summer Rain

September 1, 2023 //
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Yesterday it rained. All day a lovely misty rain fell, after a drenching downpour during the wee hours. The day was a bit more humid than is typical here. The temperature stayed mild, neither hot nor chilly. Each time I ventured out, I was hit with the kisses of tiny raindrops that enveloped me in dampness almost instantly. The sky was gray, all day. It felt more like an autumn day than anything to do with the end of summer. Autumn is almost here.

I’ve got a short solo camping trip planned for the Autumnal Equinox. I’m looking forward to it. I had planned this one before I was laid off. I kept it on the calendar in spite of the lay-off, figuring it was basically already paid for (other than the cost of gas to get there and back), and I’d benefit from the break in routine whether working or not. Once I was laid off, there was no conflict with work to think about at all. Now… I’m back to work beginning next Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday weekend. Now, the timing is… less than ideal, being so soon after I start the new job. I’m fortunate to have a boss who is 100% supportive of living life, and enjoying it, and I’ll still be going camping. 😀 Funny how quickly circumstances (and context) can change.

…I find myself distracted by the recollection that the office of the company I’m joining is located sort of nearby a different place I once worked, and I look up the address on the internet, and mentally plan the drive in on Tuesday (for onboarding, and picking up my work laptop). I’m excited about this job, way beyond the commonplace relief of not being unemployed… I’m really looking forward to joining the team, and working with this group of people that has so many familiar faces. I feel… enthusiastic. 😀 It’s lovely to feel that way about work. I sip my coffee and smile to myself, looking out the window to the gray sky and fluffy autumnal clouds beyond.

I take a moment to savor the feelings I feel right now. I let the words for the feelings land softly in my thoughts: joyful, contented, at ease, eager, enthusiastic, hopeful, purposeful, valued, appreciated, grateful, delighted, satisfied, happy, pleased, energized, committed, encouraged, prepared, ready… I sip my coffee enjoying the complexity and nuance of overlapping and intersecting positive emotions. I find myself wondering why, as human beings and as a society, we don’t spend more time explicitly savoring and reflecting upon the many sorts of positive emotions we possess the ability to feel? How often do we ever truly feel just one singular emotion standing alone in our consciousness, entirely defining our experience? Is joy mixed with hope a different experience than joy mixed with delight? What about a feeling of preparedness mixed with enthusiasm – is that different than a feeling of preparedness mixed with contentment? As the feelings mingle, do they evolve into some wholly new emulsion of emotion for which I lack language, or do they remain individual elements stacked upon one another, like oil and water?

It’s a lovely quiet morning, heading into the long Labor Day weekend. I feel like celebrating. I know it’s time to begin again. 😀

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Categories Allegories, autumn, breathe, Free Will, gratitude, inspiration, Metaphors, Mindfulness, Moments, Perspective, Practices, Summer

Ready? It’s Time to Begin Again

January 4, 2016 //
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I am sipping my first Monday morning coffee on the first work day of the new year. Getting up on time was no challenge; the alarm was set. As is so often the case the night before I return to work after a break, though, I slept restlessly and lightly, waking often. I used the hot shower to ease the stiffness in my joints, and put on a lively playlist to start my morning, dancing to the Kongos as I made my coffee.

The night stayed cold, and the snow remains from yesterday; the walk to work will be icy. I am unconcerned. I will stay comfortable today with a hiking base layer under my work clothes, good boots, and my handy “Yaktrax” for the icy walk. I’m not enthusiastic about getting back to work, honestly, and I am at risk of being highly distracted by exciting things going on for me outside the office – a good practice today will be basic mindfulness applied to work tasks; being fully engaged in each work task results in improved efficiency, better quality output, and less likelihood of daydreaming or my mind wandering. I’ll have to balance that with basic good self-care practices to ensure I take appropriate breaks, get calories and medication on time, and set clear expectations with myself and others about working hours. It can be so tempting to work long hours ‘getting caught up’ – but it is a poor way to treat the woman in the mirror, and there is no assurance that such an effort matters in the slightest to anyone else.

I sip my coffee and think ahead to the work day, distracting myself from my morning without meaning to. I let it go and come back to this moment, to the music, to the morning. I look around and see a couple of things that I’d rather not see when I get home from work and smile; there is still time to do some chores before I leave for work.

Today is a good day to take care of the woman in the mirror, she certainly does a lot for me.

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Categories Anxiety, Brain Injury, Free Will, Healthy Living, Logic & Reason, Mindfulness, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress, The Big 5, Words

Re-Setting the Alarm

January 12, 2014 //
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This is no ordinary Sunday morning. Well, okay, it is. A dull gray rainy Sunday morning on which I woke without the alarm, did some leisurely yoga to regain my freedom of movement, soaked in a hot shower to ease my arthritis pain, took some timeless moments to meditate, and made a latte. It’s a rather nice Sunday morning, actually.  I enjoy the rain, and the soggy gray sky. The only thing that seems a bit out of the ordinary is that this Sunday precedes a workday. It’s been some weeks now since setting the alarm clock would be necessary, and I’m very aware that tomorrow is a return to a different sort of routine.

Changes in routine can be emotionally difficult for me, although I’m also quite adaptable.  This morning I find that my response to the internal question ‘Am I ready?’ turns out to be ‘Aren’t I always?’. The smile attached to the thought feels friendly and safe, comfortable, self-assured. I’m good at work, and the skills I bring to my professional life are generally something I can comfortably count on.

There have been moments when feelings of frustration that ‘this wasn’t enough time’ or that ‘I don’t know how to invest my time in me the way I think I need to’ and moments when I wasn’t sure taking this time has been ‘worth it’ or when I felt I had somehow ‘failed to do what I needed to’.  This morning it is more clear that those fears are unfounded. I’ve had limited time to work with, and it coincided with the biggest holidays in my year, too. What I’ve accomplished for myself, to meet my own needs, and work on my own agenda, has actually been pretty significant – and includes ‘finding my focus’  – the next big piece of my puzzle to slip into place for the upcoming who-knows-how-long. A month well-spent, from my perspective, considered on this last Sunday before I return to work.

  • I have had time and opportunities to practice mindfulness at my leisure, on tasks large and small, both solitary and shared, without the pressures of a rigid schedule distracting me.
  • I have had the freedom to meditate any time I needed to, or wanted to, without any need to ‘set a timer’.
  • I’ve been able to improve my everyday yoga practice, and really take time learning and practicing new asanas, new modifications, and new sequences.
  • I got to enjoy the holidays ‘at full throttle’ without having to interrupt my fun every 12 hours to go back to work and do unrelated, significantly less fun stuff for someone else.
  • I’ve had time to read, and enjoyed having the time and focus to read deeply, even taking time to cross-reference and follow-up on cited references in really engaging articles, and books. (I have started and finished 7 actual books in the past couple weeks.)
  • I’ve had some time to get to know this person I call ‘me’ – I’ve changed a lot over the past year, particularly, and although there is more to work on, to understand, to learn, to practice – it’s been wonderful having time to step back a bit and look me over, and see what is important in the now.
  • I got plenty of sleep – and learned that a significant portion of my disturbed sleep may be due to the background stress of work, and the commitment to someone else’s agenda, that isn’t being skillfully set aside at the end of work days.
  • I began to explore sculpture and 3 dimensional creativity, crafting miniatures for my partner’s fairy gardens, and crafting colorful figurines to express my feelings, or share my experience, when words fail me.

Expressions. A very fun bit of what I've been up to this year. :-D

Expressions. A very fun bit of what I’ve been up to this year. 😀

  • I worked out simpler statements to clarify my needs, my boundaries, and my understanding of some fundamentals, which has improved my ability to communicate – with myself, as well as with others.
  • I laughed a lot. I cried some. I got closer to my partners.
  • I learned more about the nature of intimacy, and how very earnestly I want to be good at it.
  • I explored things about who I am that have nothing at all to do with pain, or trauma.
  • I changed up my personal space and some of my every day practices to enhance parts of my experience I really love, but struggled to enjoy comfortably.
  • I rediscovered how much there is to talk about beyond employment.

Looked at that way, it’s clear the time wasn’t wasted, and that any perceived ‘failures’ are chosen perceptions, associated with personal baggage, nothing more. (Sorry you had to slog through all that, and thank you for taking the time to sit through it with me while I took a look at it.)

So, here it is, the last Sunday before I got back to work. I am okay with going back to work, for now, and it’s nice to feel confident that at any time I really need to, I can set all that aside and go home and take care of me.  Hell, from a perspective of contentment and sufficiency, I’m pretty sure I have ‘enough’ to get by on, anytime, and find real satisfaction and joy in my experience of living. That’s a new thing… I hope to nurture it, and grow it, perhaps even gain some understanding of what makes contentment thrive. Contentment feels very good.

Today I am content and secure. Today I am kind and compassionate. Today I love and play at leisure, nurturing my heart through mindful enjoyment of everyday pleasures. Today I will change the world. ❤

 

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Categories Anxiety, Art, Brain Injury, Free Will, Healthy Living, Logic & Reason, Love, Mindfulness, Perspective, Post Traumatic Stress, Relationships, Words