Too much work and not enough play have been making me dull this summer, or at least it feels that way. My mind needs to wander aimlessly and refresh itself. The long Labor Day weekend will be much welcomed. Giving myself (and anyone who needs it) a reminder to set aside enough time for play.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
I’ve just finished an online restorative yoga exercise with the title “Finding Stillness.” It was as mellow as that name suggests, mainly involving supported positions where one is supposed to melt into the yoga blocks and let go of all the day’s work. Before that, I went for a long walk around my neighborhood while the sun was setting.
The August air still felt hot and heavy during my walk, but it was good to get outdoors anyway. My workday was long because I’ve been doing overtime this summer, and it took me a while to relax and settle into the rhythm of the walk. At first, the flowers and trees in the neighbors’ yards looked like random shapes without much meaning to them, after sitting at my desk all day staring at the monitor. But, after a while, the bright colors of the late-summer blossoms perked up my overtired brain a little more, and even the weeds left me smiling at Nature’s persistence.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
I had a random conversation with my husband earlier this week about running hot water over a glass jar to loosen the lid. I thought it was mainly because the metal lid expanded, but he said it was more because the air at the top of the jar expanded.
So, tonight when I was opening spaghetti sauce for dinner, I tried running hot water over most of the jar, rather than just the lid as I had done in the past. And yes, he was right; it definitely was easier to get off.
I’ll keep in mind, from now on, that the world is probably full of easier ways of doing things—but first, one must expect to be able to find them.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
My husband got his car back today, after several days in the shop. The torque converter needed replacing, which shouldn’t have been too hard except that in today’s vehicles, everything is so crammed together that many parts had to be taken out just to reach it. So, a large bill for many hours of labor, but I was still smiling a little, just because he was so happy to be “rehorsed,” as he put it.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
After I wrote last Thursday’s post about being thankful for all the fun little conveniences we have nowadays, such as an online pizza delivery tracker, I thought about it a little more and realized such things also make workers more stressed. They are not totally sunshine and rainbows.
Back in the day, working in a pizza store was pretty simple. Store workers took orders over the phone, assembled and baked the pizzas, and either sent them out with delivery drivers or took payment directly from customers for carryout orders. Now, the phone still rings, but orders also come in by way of the computer, and workers have to scurry over to update the tracker program every time an order’s status changes. And, of course, it’s always a bad day for the workers if (when) the software gets glitchy.
Now, multiply that by all the computer-related tasks added to the lengthy to-do lists for just about every job in today’s world, and it explains a big chunk of those “too much going on” feelings.
That’s not to say we would be better off if we could wave a magic wand and go back to 1980, or any other simpler time in history. Our apps and other modern conveniences really do make our days more cheerful and interesting—as long as it’s someone else doing the work to make sure they’re functioning properly. Even if it’s our work, using computers doesn’t just pile on extra tasks, but also makes many things easier than if they had to be done the old-fashioned way. So, it’s a mixed bag; we have more to keep track of, but also more software to help with it. I am hopeful the balance will tip more in our favor as time goes on.
I just put in a Domino’s pizza delivery order online, and, as of the time I typed this sentence, the tracker page said it had been in the oven for 4 minutes. Of course, the pizza will still taste the same when it gets here, regardless of whether I know precisely what time it was baked. Still, it’s kind of nice to live in a world where we have more information about what’s going on around us. When I take a moment to notice and appreciate such little things, as trivial as they may be, I find myself becoming more aware of how many reasons there are to be thankful.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
I’ve had a library book checked out for more than a week—The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work, by Simone Stolzoff. I’m not yet halfway through it but am still on chapter 4, which discusses the blurring of boundaries between work and other areas of life. The book is well written and holds my attention, but I haven’t gotten very far into it because I’ve been doing overtime work. The irony there is obvious enough that it doesn’t need much illustration.
The overtime began recently when a big push for AI development took people away from regular tasks, leaving the backlog to grow. However, I feel that I’ve been struggling with blurred boundaries since the pandemic started. I was already working from home before then, but my days were well structured because my husband worked in an office. Usually, soon after he came home, I would shut down my work computer, and that gave me a clear dividing line between the workday and the rest of the day.
His employer decided to shut down the local office this year for cost savings, with remote work going well. Sharing the home office space is mostly okay; I’ve learned much more about what he does as a software developer, his meetings usually are not too distracting, and it’s nice to have some companionship after years of working alone in the house. I no longer have a clearly defined work schedule, though, and sometimes I feel that I have lost control of my time. Having schedules for daily rowing workouts, although very good for improving fitness, adds to the feeling that there is always too much going on at once.
I’ll get it sorted one of these days. For now, I’m just going to get off the computer and finish reading the book.
Yesterday afternoon my husband dropped his phone and broke the screen, which left me thinking about how disruptive it feels to be temporarily deprived of our modern gadgets. Even the tiniest blips in our daily routine can leave us feeling a bit out of sorts; for example, my Keurig coffeemaker didn’t come on when I pressed the button this morning, and I had to unplug it for a moment so that it would reboot.
When modern devices are working properly, they are easier and more useful than their old-fashioned equivalents. The simpler things of the past weren’t as fragile and prone to glitches, though, so people didn’t feel that they were wasting time with unexpected problems. In fact, getting things done took more time back then, but it felt okay because our expectations weren’t being frustrated in so many small ways.
Sometimes we just need to step back, take a breath, put things in perspective, and start noticing those ordinary blessings that are right in front of us. Life really is easier than we often think it is, and we don’t need to get every little annoyance perfectly sorted before we can feel happy.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
Following up on last Thursday’s post, I got a bit more pushing than I expected at the rowing regatta. Eagle Creek in Indianapolis looks peaceful and calm in this photo that I took when we arrived, but it is wide and often windswept, which makes it choppy and a challenging place to row.
On the practice day before the races started, when I had thought I’d go out in the double, my husband suggested that we row singles instead because the weather was good. I had never rowed a single there and, to be honest, I wasn’t planning to row it because racing singles are such tiny, narrow boats that it can be scary to go out on a choppy course. He talked me into it, though, and the water was in fact pretty calm, so it wasn’t bad.
We also had a good day for the mixed double race, with very little wind. The regatta was well attended, and our competitors were fast enough that we didn’t win any medals this time. Still, it gave us a good benchmark of how much we have improved and of what we need to work on.
The other races had the more typical windy, choppy conditions, and I felt that I had to push myself to keep going back out there. Our club currently does not have any quads that are small enough for lightweight crews (although one is on order), so we were bobbing around a lot, which made me nervous. By the end of the regatta, I was exhausted and glad to get home. Still, a few years ago, I couldn’t have done as much, so I can’t complain—it’s definitely doing me some good.
I’m writing this post in advance and scheduling it for Thursday morning because of travel plans. With a high number of entries in this weekend’s championship regatta in Indianapolis, at a location that doesn’t have much nearby parking, my husband, who tows the boat trailer for our rowing club, sensibly decided it would be best to take the trailer there on Monday to make sure of getting a good spot. The trailer had been mostly loaded on Sunday, except for two boats to be picked up Monday morning from another nearby club.
I rode along to help unload boats when we got there. I wasn’t expecting it to take very long because I thought we would just take off a few smaller boats and leave the others on the trailer, but some kind folks from the Indy club offered to help us to take them all off. We got the trailer completely unloaded and parked (far enough away that it was a good thing we wouldn’t have to carry anything more from it) and the boats secured against wind and storms. By then, it was later in the afternoon, and we still had to do a rowing machine workout when we got home, so it ended up being a rather long and tiring day. Soon after I went to bed, my husband literally fell asleep on the floor.
It’s all good, though—making the effort to do more, and being in the company of cheerful and inspiring people. That’s how we get stronger and more confident, a little at a time.
Nurturing Thursday was started by Becca Givens and seeks to encourage self-nurturing and to “give the planet a much needed shot of fun, support and positive energy.”
