2024, Not a Great Start

Over the holidays, I had Covid. Symptoms began two weeks ago and I am still not recovered. For the first time in my career, I’ve had to cancel engagements and travel. This is both heartbreaking and a lesson. We need rest and self care. Whatever “push through it” career strategies we had before 2020, they are outdated.

The good news is, I’m reading more. Finished: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson 📚

The Joy of Solitude

I resist bringing my full attention back to focused work, like a toddler who doesn’t want her face washed. Even though, focus is joy.

Personhood

This week, my intention was to be more mindful when attending online work meetings. As I did, I noticed something: I’ve constructed a Me Who Goes to Meetings.

Rest and Renew

I’ve learned essential lessons about rest and renewal over the last decade. For example, renewing my energy is the most trustworthy bellwether of career satisfaction and success. Which surprised me. Pushing less hard is counterintuitive.

Wisdom crafters

Wisdom crafters are seekers of a philosophic sunrise. They work hard, often in the shadows, to discover insights that change our view of things. Sometimes gently. Sometimes like a bolt of lighting.

In the midst of this

In the midst of the pandemic, during a retreat, I take a breath. When I stop constantly swimming towards more, I discover enough.

Notes from our home in New York

I wanted to live a Year of Enough. Now, I live in a pandemic epicenter where there is no more. Ironic, don’t you think? Inside all the uncertainty, I’m discovering the seeds of enough.

Educating at home during viral times

In the midst of the pandemic, many colleagues are working while their kids are schooling at home. A few have asked, via social media, for strategies. Having homeschooled for ten years, I have some! Here they are.

And then it got hard

It has been three weeks since I posted. In part because some difficult work consumed my writing energy. But mostly, because I ran smack into something I didn’t want to say out loud.

Stop hoarding todos and breathe

What I do is balanced and supported by all I don’t do. I’ve never been great at balance. Or taking deep breaths. Seems I’m learning both now.

Asking for help

When I hoard todos and refuse to ask for help, I stifle the Enough Economy. A lesson I recently learned for the bazillionth time.

Competition

I don’t enjoy competition yet can be quite competitive. What’s that about? How is competition related to being enough?

Making nut milk

I recently made almond milk. It was so easy, I wondered if there are other products I buy that I don’t need. Which made me wonder why I love ‘products’ (instead of food) in the first place.

The enough retrospective

When I look back on the last ten years, I can see where I’ve experienced enough. Where I haven’t. And how I can change so the next ten years are more than enough. Wanna try?

Blurring the edges

Seeking work life balance suggests we don’t work during the life part. We work all the time. Here is how I am blurring the edges.

Enough of what? An exercise.

A writing exercise to uncover ‘enough of what?’ in which I share TMI and link to cool stuff.

Resistance is our strengthener

My inner resistance to this practice is solidifying, concretizing. Simultanously, I am developing muscles I’ve never had and always needed.

Doing enough: the first of many

In which I demonstrate my unrealistic relationship with TODO lists and wonder if, maybe, that relationship will change this year. Maybe.

There's no such thing as enough sugar

Imagine the holidays with no sugar, including flour and alcohol. Horrifying thought or joyful ideal? I’ve never enjoyed food more.

Christmas enough

Becoming free from the empty drama of “enough” at the holidays may require years of experimentation. But what matters most is knowing that your time, energy and attention are the most valuable things.