Friday is again here. Hurray! I can see that smile emerging on your face😊
There is hope on the horizon that the weekend will liberate us. It will liberate us from our screens, the zoom calls and the invisible chain to our desk chair. Welcome outdoor activities, sports, family and friends time or …Netflix movies, new dates and adventures.
This week was a rainy one here in The Netherlands and I knew about it last Sunday. Now, as most of you who know me will tell, I have quite a strong inclination towards extroversion, if I don’t get to see the sun or other people for too long, I end up walking around the house like this pale-faced, moody working mum cursing the kids for being messy.
Desperate moments call for drastic measures. So, in fighting autumn rain depression and home-working cabin fever I did, take some proactive actions. With the help of my dear family, I did 3 things (Tips for fighting misery!)
1. I remodeled my Home office to get maximum sun and color
I decided I need it my new office in a happy corner of the living room, with my beloved brainstorm whiteboard and post its next to it. My dear husband, who never ceases to impress me, managed to surprise me and he did all the set up on Sunday afternoon while I was at the gym.
2. I adapted my meeting agenda to make it more interactive and ALIVE😊
Like most of you, my Monday was packed with back -to back meetings: client calls in the morning, onboarding meeting with a new team member, a workshop design brainstorm and administration filing. Sunday evening, I had the idea to invite my team mate for a brainstorm at my home so that we can brainstorm at a social safe distance and also tackle the admin. She assured me that she is healthy, but out of paranoia, I suggested we wear face masks.
(Ok, I know that in the current COVID situation face -to-face meetings are banned but if we learn to wear masks during our work meetings our life will become easier. The entire Europe, wear mask, I don’t know why, we Dutch are resisting it still.)
3. I stopped fighting the inner MISERY and low energy when the rain poured down my face while dropping the kids at school on Tuesday morning.
Since April I started a new digital coaching program on positive intelligence and while I learned a lot while doing the 6-weeks practice exercises, I am learning even more now that I teach it myself. Anyways, one of the best 4 min recordings is on… how to accept misery. It felt counterintuitive to me, but apparently the neuroscience proves that:
‘the more our brain tries to fight the misery, the worse it gets. The pain in itself is less than our effort to fight it.’
If you didn’t come across positive intelligence yet, check out their free saboteurs’ assessment.
Now, if you think, that this is just another letter telling you how great Steliana is and all the things she does, then you must have guessed two of my inner saboteurs, the Hyper-Achiever and the Restless. However, I must tell you in full confidence that the idea of writing Friday TGIF letters comes from the Sage version of me, the one that knows that only through being courageous and vulnerable and you can dream big and help others take action on their dreams. So, my dear friend, this is an invitation for you to sharpen your pencils and to start writing.
I am convinced that there is a book in all of us, or at least a letter or… a blog article.
Don’t postpone it, the world is waiting.
I hope you are as excited as I am to begin the weekend.
Career is only one part of one’s beautiful career.
Sincerely,
Steliana