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 try out something new to get out of your comfort zone.
I like my comfort zone. I’m very slow to try new things in much of my life. I like new places, and I’ll try new foods, but I often retreat into something that’s comfortable for me. I tried to change this when I put together this tip.
In this case, my change was to do nothing. Or little. Usually, I try to get things done and push through the hours. I go from work to a second job coaching to the gym to fixing things on the weekend. If there are extra chores, I’ll tackle them.
I typically do this even when I’m a bit run down. In fact, during the second week of the year, I was starting to feel like I’d caught cold. I took some meds, tried to sleep a bit more, but kept to my routine and working through the week. I felt OK, but constantly a bit run down. I didn’t do my best work, nor did I really get as much done as I’d like. I even did an hour bike ride (indoors), but I was slow and not sure I got as much benefit out of that work as I would have during 20 minutes.
Finally the next Monday I decided to stop fighting and working at 2/3 speed. I took a meeting in bed and then called it a day, sleeping for most of the time.
The next day I felt almost normal, and decided to take things slow for another day. Working, but not as much as usual and allowing myself the chance to keep healing.