Today’s coping tip is to take five minutes to sit still and breathe.
Sounds simple. I find this to be very challenging. If I’m just sitting here, why am I now getting something done? I could be productive during this five minutes.
I struggle to do this, but I’m taking this time to do this. It’s a few days earlier in the week, and I’m at a customer site for a bit of work. During the time someone else was working with the customer, I took five minutes to sit in the lobby of as building. I set a timer and put my phone in lap. I then sat, looked at the fountain for a bit, closed my eyes a bit, and tried to just sit.
It took a few minutes to relax. I kept thinking about things I needed to do, reflect on the customer visit, and more. After a bit, I could quiet my mind and just relax.
It was nice, though I still felt like I could have been productive during that five minutes. Clearly I need to practice this more.
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.