I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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.
Today’s tip is to choose one of your strengths and find a way to use it.
One of my strengths is that I can grind away at tasks and get things done. I’m careful not to overcommit (most times) and being able to focus helps me work through the items I do agree to work on.
For me, I’ve been using this personally for the last month. I started a diet with my wife, limiting food intake and avoiding alcohol. I haven’t had a drink from Jan 1 through Feb 1. I dropped my calorie intake to about 1500 cal/day.
This hasn’t been too bad, but I think a couple of things from my strength help here. First, I know I’m paying a bit of penance for using food and alcohol to cope during the pandemic, at least a bit too much. Second, I have a routine of 3-4 days that I rotate through, and a fairly limited set of choices that I don’t dislike too much. I’ve been able to just keep pushing through hard days and looking forward to a new meal the next day.
Overall it’s worked well. I went from about 236-226 in a month and while I’m rarely satisfied and often a little hungry, it’s not as bad as some attempts in the past.
I think the penance thing has played to my strength.