How we can live life more emotionally

Emotional reactions aren’t exactly hard to find. Online, the world can feel very polarised, so it can be a challenge to keep a cool head when discussing divisive topics – be that climate, diversity, war or anything else.

For many of us, we’ve been taught the value of avoiding emotional reactions. It’s important for us to be able to listen to others without reacting straight away. Yet whilst we are better off not reacting to the first emotion that we have, I also feel we have gone too far the other way.

We have inadvertendly idealised the idea of being cool, calm and collected over the ability to express genuine feelings. Indeed, the idea of expressing how you feel is still seen as a risk in a corporate workplace, for fear of being called unprofessional.

Growing up in a mix of UK and Bangladeshi culture, I learnt to keep emotions in check. Whilst the British side taught me the value of the ‘stiff upper lip’ to avoid causing a scene (particularly in public), the Bangladeshi culture focussed on the need for respect and humility.

Whilst there are definite positives to these values, they also contribute to the lack of balance within people in society. For males, expressing emotions is something that is neither expected nor often wanted. It is no wonder that we see so many men in the world unable to share how they were genuinely feeling.

For women, this can be a challenge for being seen as ‘too emotional’, particularly in a workplace setting. For everyone else on the gender spectrum, expressing emotion can be tricky: there are less obvious examples to follow, whilst other people’s reactions can also be negative when these go against the expected gender norms.

In last week’s article, I talked about how I was a far more emotional and sensitive creature than I had previously realised. This week for me was about tying this realisation with the way I act on a day-to-day basis.

I’ve realised how the usual response to something that genuinely upsets me is to push down the emotions. When someone has done something that has hurt me, I jump to their perspective. I try and be understanding without properly understanding how I am feeling. My trained, instinctive response is often to play down a situation, only for my upset or anger to surface quickly after. I would then feel unable to express these feelings as I had already said things were fine.

So I’ve been looking to express myself more closely with how I’ve been feeling. This has been quite a big shift, and honestly, probably not a popular one. Internally, I’m letting go of a filtering system which put me closer to a cool, calm and collected response. It’s also made me realise how much I self-censor: as someone who already has the image of being outspoken, I’ve been unconsciously tuning out a lot of my ideas for fear of being too radical.

The reality, though, is that I am radical. I’ve seen it time and time again that the way my mind thinks is very different to the people around me. It’s taken some time, but I’ve also learnt to see this as a gift – the world is facing so many challenges it needs the space for more radical thinking. I shouldn’t be toning down my ideas in a space where creative thinking is desperately needed.

At the same time, this has only increased my feelings of being an outsider. Whilst I enjoy the uniqueness of my life most of the time, I often wish my life was a little less unique and I found it easier to connect with others. But I also know that this is my life path, and any attempt to pretend otherwise would only lead me to dimming my own light and ultimately being unsatisfied.

I honestly don’t know whether what I am doing is good life advice for others. I think (or perhaps hope) that better emotional expression leads to a more fulfilling life. But I also am still in fear of the repercussions. Will this be ultimately damaging for my friendships, career and everything else?

In the short term, it might just be. But hopefully in the longer term it will lead to better things.

Don’t cry for me Argentina – trip reflections

Lago Falkner, on the Route of the Seven Lakes, Patagonia

I’m on my last leg of Argentina. In fact, I’m currently writing this article thousands of miles in the sky, on my way back to Europe. This week I went to Bariloche, Patagonia. I returned to Buenos Aires for one night before returning back to Brussels (with an exotic layover in Frankfurt).

Patagonia is breathtaking. I wasn’t expecting to see such a wide array of beautiful landscapes in such a small space of time. I expected Patagonia would be beautiful, but I didn’t think there would be so much of it. I became overwhelmed rather quickly. The views were incredible, but there are only so many stunning scenes you can take in within a day before it becomes exhausting.

Otherwise, my trip to Argentina has been weird. It had a mix of solo travel, spending time with some family (brothers/cousins) and also travelling with extended/new friends. What has also been travelling with me is a consistent cough, which has been a particular challenge on certain days too.

I’ve not been shy to share that this trip did not come at the greatest time for me. The beginning of the year has brought a pretty intense level of existential questioning. Sometimes this has felt like a real burden – I felt guilty for not enjoying my trip more. And yet, I also realised with hindsight that it is better to get on with life rather than what I would otherwise be doing – staring at my ceiling from my bedroom in Brussels.

I think I’m entering my chaotic era in life. This trip had less planning, more emotional vulnerability and greater amounts of spontaneous fun. Whilst I did go see the tourist sites, I also went out in Buenos Aires to a techno party till 7am, which definitely wasn’t part of the usual itinerary. I also had more of a sense of obligation to be there for my family, which was the primary reason for the trip. I find such things difficult, and this was no exception here.

When I stop to think, it’s actually amazing what I achieved. I booked a full trip a few weeks away, turned up to a brand new country in a different continent and rolled through speaking Spanish from day one with no issues. I often take my skills for granted, and it was only when I was travelling with non-Spanish speakers that I remembered how far I had come with my mastery of language and cross-cultural communication.

In the last few days I noticed something about myself. My urge to conform and connect with local cultures with respect is something that really drives me. On the positive side, this is what has spurred my strengths in understanding others. On the other hand, this can also make me feel very uncomfortable when not doing what I’m supposed to do. I had a sharp pain in my chest when I was travelling with others and I felt like we were not respecting the local customs. I had never connected the dots around my sensitivities with the deep desire to conform within a culture.

I think that deep down, I am someone who really desires harmony and peace. When I go to my core, I am actually the ultimate people pleaser – this has come out really intensely when I’ve gotten close with people.

The painful part of this is that this does not really reflect how many people see me, or indeed how I saw myself for a long time. The nicer words people have used about me are that I am passionate and fight for what I believe in, the less nice words are that I am a troublemaker.

This trip has been a reminder that at my core I am deeply sensitive – for many people probably overly so. So I have learnt to adapt, whether that be to attach myself to more masculine traits of logical thinking whilst also heavily suppressing my emotional side, or learning to be more outspoken as a way to follow my beliefs.

After all, if I was still the quiet, peace loving ethnic minority, I would probably be doing some admin job in the back of an office with half the salary with my skills being wasted. The troublemaker brand is one I’ve reluctantly accepted to make it in a world not built for people like me.

We can travel away from everything except ourselves

My gloriously tidy hostel bed in Iguazú

This article marks two years of writing articles each week consecutively. The last time I missed a week was in January 2022. And it just so happens that I’m writing this one from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I’ve been posting pretty frequently on social media around the different things I’ve been seeing. I didn’t really have a set intention to do so, but I just felt like getting the thoughts out of my head and into the world.

Throughout my posts, I wanted to ensure that I kept a level of grounded realism about travelling. We’ve all seen the exotic lifestyles being portrayed on social media that are far from reality. Instead, I wanted to talk about how I genuinely experienced the parts of my trip.

I’ve been sick pretty much throughout. I’ve generally been fine enough to do what I had planned, but the constant coughing has made it tougher. I also came into this trip with probably the least amount of enthusiasm I’ve ever had for a ‘grand adventure’. I was, and still am, in the midst of some soul searching as we hit 2024.

The untold truth about travelling is that whilst it can be great, amazing, breathtaking, it is still living life. There are exciting moments, and there are boring moments. Nothing illustrated this better to me then when I went to the Iguazú waterfalls and saw amazing things in the morning. By the afternoon I returned to my hostel bed with very little to actually do. I ended up scrolling more on social media than I would have done at home.

The one person we always travel with is ourselves. Many people travel the world to escape their lives, only to find themselves still unhappy 5000 miles away. Travel can do many things, but it won’t fix your happiness. Only you can do that for yourself.

For me, I recognise that I’m having a moment in life where things need time to settle. It’s like a operating software update – until it’s done, I’m a slow-moving loading screen. This would be the case if I was in snowed-under Brussels or travelling across Patagonia. There are no shortcuts in this game.

Fortunately, I have the wisdom to recognise this point. Although there were moments with getting anxious for not ‘enjoying this more’ or getting frustrated with my body for getting sick, I could realise that this was just part of life. I can feel what I’m meant to feel. I don’t need to change anything.

On a positive note, yesterday was the lightest I’ve felt in a long time. Despite still coughing a lot, I felt a sense of floating through life again. I noticed the beauty of the trees. I noticed the smiles of the people around me. I wanted to wave my body with music. I felt a greater sense of inner peace. I think the software update is getting close to completion.

It’s funny that after a period of angst and confusion, there simply comes a point where it just passes. This only happens if we learn to process the emotions without either avoiding them or hanging onto them unduly.

Whatever hardships or challenges we have faced, one day we can wake up and see the beauty of life again.

This too shall pass.

The subtle art of getting on with life

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Life doesn’t stop. Even if we want it to.

I’ve been slowly reawakening to life after the new year. Honestly, it’s felt lethargic and difficult.

Alas, life does not wait for us to feel in tip top condition. For those of us in the EU bubble, the return to work has felt more intense than ever. We’ve hit ‘la rentrée’. People are back in town. Social activities have restarted. Emails are flying around in abundance. The break is officially over.

As humans, many of us are feeling rusty. Indeed, at my local Toastmasters, the overriding feedback was that we all seemed pretty rusty.

This week has been a lesson in practice of getting on with my life despite how I feel. I still feel under a cloud of existential questioning. But I realise that it’s better I go out and do things rather than avoiding them.

This week was intense. I landed straight into a week of grant proposals, reporting deadlines and planning meetings. I came into the office a few days, including a half day HR training on Wednesday and a team planning session with my team on Friday.

One of the (rather unwanted) benefits of a job is that it prompts us into action. When we commit to working, it pushes us to do things, even if I didn’t really feel like it. By the end of the week, I found the interest and passion slowly return.

This principle also shifts towards our personal lives too. This week I had a team social on Tuesday evening, a pole class Wednesday evening and my Toastmasters club meeting on Thursday evening.

These are all things that I wanted to do. After I did them, I felt better for it. But before them, I really didn’t. Part of me was tempted to bail and stay home.

There is a comfort in withdrawing back into the comforts of our homes. Yet I also know that if I were to not do the things I actually want to do, I would have felt worse. Getting back into the activities that we enjoy is an important part of living.

It is also a way to break the cycle of misery. Many of us tend to withdraw when we feel low. Whilst sometimes this can be beneficial – particularly if we are burnt out or need time for ourselves – often this is to our detriment. We end up reinforcing our sense of isolation because we do not feel like going outside.

It’s now Friday night, and I’m sitting in Frankfurt airport waiting for a flight to Buenos Aires for a two week trip. I’ll have a chance to properly disconnect for a few weeks. I’m looking forward to a change of scenery and new stimulation, even if I haven’t really thought about it too much yet!

I’ll still be writing my articles and reflections (often when I travel I actually post more because I feel more creative). So expect my next article including some insights from my travels. It’ll also be a nice way to mark a landmark too – next week I’ll have posted articles for two years without missing a single week.

Embarking on an exciting trip is as good a reminder as any: go ahead and live your life, even if you don’t feel like it right now.

Managing the existential questioning after the holiday period

Photo by Daniele Levis Pelusi on Unsplash

The last two weeks have been a lethargic period for many people. For me, I’m noticing that I’m probably more frazzled than I was before this ‘rest period’ started.

It is often the period of rest that allows issues to surface. When we are too busy, we don’t give space for the bigger questions in life to arise. For me, this has been a new layer of existential questioning of who I am. I think deep down I knew I was due such a moment of crisis. Knowing this does not make it any less confusing or painful.

I look at this philosophically – I wouldn’t be able to handle this level of confusion compared to the version that I was a year ago. As we grow, life gives us new, larger challenges. So in other words, I’ve been given a bigger challenge because I’m now able to face it, compared to before.

I’ve learnt to let go of the small things much better than I used to. Usually, if I have something bother me, within a day or so I’ve probably forgotten about it. But with this, the feeling of confusion and fatigue has lingered for over a few weeks now.

The temptation is to retreat from the world. I could tell myself that I need my ‘me time’ and to block out everything and everyone else. But with maturity and wisdom, I realise that this often actually compounds the problem. I can’t ‘outthink my problems’ and my tendency to withdraw only makes me disassociate further from the world. I also feel worse because I am no longer doing the things I enjoy either.

I’ve had a pretty sociable last two weeks. Considering I spent it in Belgium, I ended up seeing quite a few sets of friends over the last two weeks, rather than the self-imposed isolation which it could have been.

I’m very grateful for this. Going out and seeing friends, especially when I don’t feel like it, breaks the monotony of being in my head. It has allowed me to remember that there is a world out there, and the cool winter breeze helps me ground back into reality.

There is no escaping the fear and confusion. It is part of the process. Running away from it does not make it go away, it just merely prolongs the experience. But neither does trying to fix it, or rushing through the process to the ‘everything’s fine’ moment. Such thoughts risks us falling into denial about how we really feel.

Instead, I’m content to experience the experience I’m meant to be having. And, this does not mean that I need to pause my life.

Truly, one of the greatest levels of mastery in life is being able to do things you commit to, even when you don’t feel like it. This can be as grand as writing a 100,000 word novel or as small as doing the dishes after having dinner.

At the same time, a key part of this is being gentle with oneself. I recognise that I’m not at my tip top shape, so I don’t force myself to be. I’ve spent more time laying in bed than I usually would, sometimes into the afternoon. This might not necessarily be the ‘healthiest’ thing, but it’s also comforting. Sometimes comforting is nice and okay.

If we never took time to question what we are doing in life, we would never do anything new or different. Questioning ourselves is a key part of our existence. It is something to embrace, rather than escape.

What does 2024 hold in store?

Photo by Danil Aksenov on Unsplash

One of the great things about writing articles weekly is that it’s pretty easy to go back to them and see how life panned out in 2023.

These last few days I’ve been resharing some of the most meaningful articles that I’ve written this year. It’s a good way of being able to reconnect with the ebbs and flows of the last 364 days.

So in my 52nd and final article of 2023, let’s first look back to help me look forward.

But let’s start with what I’m feeling right now. Although in the short term I’m still feeling tired from a year that seemed to finish late, I feel like I’m in a much better place than I have been throughout the course of this year. Last week, I described this as a ‘foundational year’, in that I feel far clearer in many aspects of my life compared to the beginning of the year.

I dug out my old articles, and found one looking at how 2022 went. I also found one of 2021 as well.

Ironically I wrote that I thought 2022 would be my foundational year. Instead, it turned out to be a year of frantic exploration and kicking off some radical change. 2022 was the year where I really shook the snow globe of my life. 2023 was about letting the snow settle into place.

It’s also interesting to read about the evolution of the way I see the world. in 2021, I wrote about achieving a lot, but not feeling particularly happy. We were still in lockdown times, and I was still settling in with a new job and moving countries. The emotional separation of leaving the UK was still weighing heavy on me.

2022 felt like I had something to prove. I was leading into the December period with ambitions of doing many different things. I had just published my book, and was already planning on working on a podcast, as well as thoughts of a next book. Reading this all now sounds exhausting, and with the benefit of hindsight I can see how hard I was pushing myself to achieve all these things. It was as if I was fighting against time itself.

Whilst this definitely carried over into the first half of 2023, by the end of this year I feel far more relaxed. I don’t feel the need to have 50 different goals, nor grand ambitions to do new, cool sounding stuff. In contract, my December was left pretty empty this year. What is nice is that this was just an intuitive sense of keeping my schedule light, rather than something I had to force myself to do.

My shift in mindset is not due to a drop in ambition. If anything, they’ve only increased. But it stems from a deeper knowing that I don’t really need a bucket list of cool sounding things to drive my life forward. I know that I will do lots of cool and exciting things anyway, so pre-supposing lots of goals doesn’t really make too much sense to me anymore. Instead, I want to be put myself in a mental and physical space where I am best able to seize the opportunities that will appear in the next 12 months.

The idea of not having lots of goals can feel quite counterintuitive. We’re so used to being told that having goals are important. But I equate it to riding a bike with stabilisers. When we are just beginning in our search for direction, it is helpful to have goals to push us forward. Otherwise, we drift aimlessly, or fall flat on our face.

I feel like I’ve come to a moment where I don’t need the restrictive list of goals. I can take the stabilisers off, and ride where life takes me far more freely. This would have been too daunting before, but now I have reached a level of mastery where I am far more comfortable with the unknown.

So then, how do I look at 2024? Well, I think a lot of the things that I’ve set in motion in 2023 will bear greater fruit – my personal development, focus on relationships and greater focus on mental/physical wellbeing. I’m already seeing life feel more rhythmic and fun rather than a constant struggle to get somewhere. which is what it was before

Despite what I said about goals, there are a few things in my mind that I want to do (the difference being I won’t chastise myself if I don’t!).

Firstly, physical health is finally going to get top spot. For years it has languished lower down the priority list, but it’s time I really connect with my body and work to improve my fitness and general healthcare. It’s definitely improved over the last 6 months, but there’s further I can go.

This is probably one of the most daunting ones for me. I’ve made many attempts to ‘get fit’ ‘or ‘get in shape’, and they’ve never really stuck. Usually it’s because other things take precedence. This is not what I want to happen in 2024.

As another idea, I may go back to writing a new book. The itch for writing returned over the last few days, and I have a longstanding idea around a philosophical fiction book – currently entitled ‘Jane’s quest for meaning in the 9 to 5’. I wrote the first four pages this year, then stopped. It would be a nice project to return to, and I feel better equipped to write it as well.

I did a lot of personal development courses last year, so I feel less pulled to do lots more right now. That may change, but at least for the next few months I want to slow down with consumption of new material. Also from a financial standpoint, I’ve invested so much to the point where money has felt a strain. It would be good to have a few months pause, pay off some overdrafts and feel more financially solvent. I’m fortunate that this doesn’t require any dramatic cut backs, though it is an exercise in self-control.

If there is one course I would like to do, it would be a Vipassana retreat. These are 10 day silent meditation courses, hosted in retreat centres globally. I flirted with attending one this year, but honestly, I was already doing so much. One thing I’m noticing is how much I love the stimulation of life, to the point I just want more and more. I think this would be a great ‘reset’ button around a lot of my habits and way of living. No doubt it’ll be tough, but I think it would be so valuable.

Otherwise, I want to keep myself open and responsive to life. I want to allow free space and energy for new things to come into my life, rather than booking it all out already. Like many people, I think I’ve been guilty of letting great things pass me by. Whilst no one does this intentionally, it often comes from an overfocus on pre-set goals. This isn’t something I want for 2024.

What did I even do in 2023?

Photo by Christof on Unsplash

Before logging off work, I wrote a recap email of all the things our team had achieved this year.

It was meant to be a short thank you email with a summary. But I realised that this would not really be doing the task justice. So instead, I spent some time properly trawling through our achievements.

Over the last year, my team had published 3 reports with 2000+ accumulative views, 5 events with over 400 attendees (including one in the European Parliament and another in Dubai for COP), 20 videos with over 17500+ accumulated views across platforms, 8 media mentions (either quotes or op-eds). We also ran ten working groups, a research workshop along with four individual interviews, 10+ stakeholder meetings, 15+ meetings with businesses, 4+ position papers on files, and 5+ speaking opportunities to promote our work at other events.

I’m not sure I totally did it justice, but I’m glad I wrote it out rather than just saying ‘we wrote 3 reports and did 5 events this year’.

We can really downplay the accumulative effect of what we have achieved. So I thought I would also do a similar exercise for myself, blending in the personal and the professional.

  • This will be my 51st article of this newsletter this year. They average about 600 words (if not more), meaning I’ve written over 30,000 words just through this blog. The readership has grown to 1600, and on average, about 450 people read each article. Accumulatively, my articles have been read at least 22,500 times this year. Pretty cool considering it’s something I do in my spare time! According to LinkedIn, this is my 156th article I’ve written too. Once I get passed January 20th, I will have not missed writing an article for two years.

  • I invested deeply in my personal development. I attended three 3 day seminars, one 2 day seminar and a 7 day developmental immersion. Additionally I had a one day in-person session with my coach. I also went to India for 10 days, which including some solo travel, was directly focused on attending The Ultimate Experience, another personal development conference. In total, I’ve spent a whole month’s worth of days on personal development – all stuff outside of my ‘formal job’.

  • This is not also factoring all the additional coaching calls. I’ve averaged fortnightly calls with my coaches, completed an online 8 week programme and tuned into numerous additional free personal development talks. I’ve easily wracked up above 100+ hours. Again, this is another 12 working day’s worth.

  • I got my voice out there far more this year. From a professional point of view, I wrote op-eds around circular economy policy – two in Euronews and one in Euractiv. I was quoted in the Brussels Times, as well as a quote at the bottom of an article in Forbes (the Forbes quote is longer than I remember!!) I’m also co-author for the three publications we did on circularity which I mentioned earlier on. (here, here and here)

  • I also spoke at more events – in the last month I spoke at two event in Brussels, at the Sustainable Packaging Summit in Amsterdam and to Spanish Clean Tech companies in London. Earlier in the year I also spoke on policymaking to sustainability start ups in Cambridge. This has been underpinned by my regular attendance of Toastmasters, where I’ve been honing my speech craft. I did four prepared speeches over 2023. I attended around 15 club meetings/socials (which include impromptu speaking exercises) – I am also Vice-President of Membership there.

  • I attended interesting events, including the EU Industry Days in Málaga, Innovate Zero in the UK as well as those on my doorstep in the European Parliament (one of which we hosted) and the European Commission (on the Paris Stocktake). There are also a few podcasts I’ve been on this year, I recorded 5 episodes with a friend sharing reflections, but also additional guest appearances around sustainability, diversity and personal development.

  • This has been a year around exploration and self-expression. This is the first year in my ‘nine year cycle’ which is a year of creating foundations for the next 8 years. I certainly started this year feeling pretty lost and unsure about what I really wanted, and I end the year with far more clarity and ease about myself. The journey between these two points have included some very difficult moments filled with confusion, but also many fun moments too.

  • I’ve also become far more comfortable in my own skin. At the beginning of the year I would freeze at the idea of dancing or moving to the rhythm of music. I’ve attended a number of ecstatic dance events which has really freed up my skin and allowed me to get out of my head. I’ve also been much more active and connected with my body through exercise, as well as shifted my diet towards regular intermittent fasting. I’ve gotten in much better shape (albeit a slump from stress in the last two weeks).

  • I am far happier with the relationships around me. I have put more effort into the relationship with my parents, which is one of the reasons I go back home to London more often than I used to. I’m glad I’m doing this now (even if not perfectly) whilst I still can.

  • I’ve become more discerning around friendships. I used to try very hard to maintain friendships, whereas now I’m much more content to let them go. For a friendship to work, there needs to be the time and energy from both sides. This has given space for new connections where I feel a much more equal balance.

It feels pretty nice writing out these things. Each time I go back I add a few more points when I realise I have completely forgotten to mention something! I had to go through my calendar to remember what I had done earlier in the year.

Whilst I knew I did a lot, the sheer amount was not really visible to me. So it’s nice to have it written out more fully (even if there are more things I could write here!)

So if you feel inclined, I recommend you doing a similar exercise for yourself. It will make you appreciate yourself far more.

Why we don’t need to be constantly improving ourselves

Photo by Ankush Minda on Unsplash

We’re nine days from Christmas, and I’m feeling pretty exhausted.

I don’t even celebrate Christmas. There’s no additional stress for me around expensive travel plans. Neither am I trying to buy well-thought out gifts for distant relatives I barely know. In that sense I’m quite blessed to have a calm Xmas time. But I feel tired all the same.

This year has felt more pressurised than previous years. It’s been noticeable how many people I know have been feeling the squeeze. The cut off point where projects came to a grinding halt is no longer the case with our hybrid world.

As for me, I usually write these articles about what I’ve been feeling over the week. The last month of articles have had an underlying theme of fatigue.

Usually, I would start feeling reminiscent about what I had achieved around this time of year. But right now, I honestly don’t really feel like it. It just doesn’t seem very fun to reflect right now. I’ve had an ample share of emotional intensity for the last few months, so adding more doesn’t feel like a fun thing to do.

I realise that I may be putting pressure on myself to be more self-reflective. After all, am I not that guy who likes to talk about how he feels? Usually reliving and analysing things is my happy place.

What I’ve realised is that the pressure to learn and grow can sometimes be quite suffocating. We can create a sense that we must always improve ourselves, to the point where we put ourselves on a self-improvement hamster wheel. I’ve definitely done this a lot this year without realising it.

The irony is how counterproductive this can be. One of the most important lessons for me has been around letting go of a situation without trying to be perfect. Yet without realising it, when faced with my imperfections, my response has been to go harder.

I’ve completed an astonishing number of books, courses and workshops this year. I’ve gotten loads from them, so I definitely don’t regret it. Yet there has come a point where they’ve become a distraction rather than an aide to my learning. Sometimes the solution is to sit still, rather than going on a course to learn how to sit still. I’ve learnt this the hard way – both through my reduced energy and reduced bank account.

After some rest, I probably will return to a more reflective state anyway. This is a temporary state of tiredness rather than a life-altering one. When I’m in a good space, learning is not something I have to force. So if it’s feeling like I am pushing myself to do so, it’s probably a sign that I’d be better off having a break.

I’ve felt similar with reading – I’ve gone from reading an incredible amount of books earlier in the year to basically stopping for the last two months. Whilst in the past I might feel guilty about this or question my ‘guru credentials’, now I’m far more relaxed. I have the experience to know my sense of wonder will return when I am ready to engage with it properly.

This is a kind reminder to yourself to let yourself live life fully. Learning is great. But living is greater. Only once you’re properly experiencing life, you can see what you want to learn or improve.

Navigating the turbulence of the December work rush

Photo by Matt Palmer on Unsplash

One thing I’ve noticed is that lots of people (including myself) have been radiating stress. This is probably caused by the squeeze of work before the year end.

Christmas is usually a busy moment, but tied along with increased workloads and tired souls, I’m noticing an extra level of fatigue. Either that or perhaps it’s just what I’m experiencing for myself anyway.

As both a human being experiencing these things and as a manager, it can be tricky to know what to do, or how to respond. I’ve certainly seen that the usual platitudes are not particularly helpful for people – they haven’t been for me. Usual responses can be easy one-liners such as that it would be a good idea to take more breaks, working less or to simply not stress out. I find these more frustrating than useful.

Whilst there is certainly an underlying truth in these sayings, they are often buried in with a working context where the message is anything but ‘work less’. It’s hard to take seriously a voice which tells us to take a break when it’s the same voice that is telling us to work harder. I’ve certainly experienced this many times in my career, and so it’s one I want to avoid preaching myself.

I think it’s important to accept the realities of our situation. When we take a role, we can find ourselves with rather stretching deadlines. Reminding ourselves that the deadline we face is not the be-all-end-all can be helpful, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem either. Even when we know life won’t end if we don’t do a task, it doesn’t stop it being something we feel like we either want to or should do anyway.

I think we can give ourselves grace to see that these periods are stretching us, and – dare I say it – allow ourselves to feel discontent about it too. We can allow ourselves to feel our feelings without turning into victimhood. After all, Experiencing unpleasant emotions during a time of stress is a perfectly normal reaction.

I’m looking to ride my emotions as well as I can. This week, I had a moment where I just felt very emotionally drained, to the point I needed to just take time to sit in silence during the day. I’m generally pretty on top of my emotions, so the feeling was a little scary if I’m being totally honest.

I’d like to say I’ve gotten pretty good at reading my own emotional signals, so I can react pretty well. But my heart goes out for those who haven’t really tuned into themselves, the blocking of these emotions is why we are seeing so much unhappiness and burn out. The answer to emotions is to experience them, not to ignore them.

So in this December rush, remember that it’s okay to feel. This is a moment where you might be more challenged than in other parts of the year.

Sometimes the best antidote for being stressed is accepting that we are stressed.

An invitation to stop using time-saving hacks

Photo by Acton Crawford on Unsplash

Last weekend I volunteered to help make food at an event. It was a pretty basic task. I had to restock the drinks bottles on the shelf, refill the snack bowls and make some pizzas in the oven.

I was surprised to find it was the most relaxed I’ve felt when making food in about a year. The basic task of cutting up pizza slices was bringing me more joy than similar tasks usually do.

The big difference was that I was taking my time. Since I was at the event for a few hours, there was no need to rush. I could work at a steady, enjoyable pace.

Normally when cooking, I try and optimise my timings. I start heating up the pan before cutting up all the vegetables because I can chop the garlic quickly and throw it in. After that I then quickly cut up some other veggies on the fly to throw in, whilst keeping an eye on the pan. Whilst it’s nice to be able to juggle difficult tasks, without realising it I have been doing this to the point that I’m putting myself under a needless time pressure.

Even today, I came home after doing some grocery shopping. Certain items go to the bathroom, which is upstairs next to my bedroom. I instinctively split out everything that needs to go upstairs so that I can take everything up in one trip. Whilst on paper this sounds efficient, in practice there’s usually too many items and I usually always forget something, so I’ll have to take the trip again anyway. I’ve been caught in a game of mental arithmetic to try and avoid multiple trips upstairs, even though there is absolutely no need to rush.

These may sound like mundane examples, but it’s a bit scary to notice how often I overplan things for the benefit of ‘saving time’. The irony is that by the time I’m done with all my time-saving hacks, I’m tired and end up crashing on the sofa for longer. Because of this, basic tasks like washing and cleaning feel more complicated because of the amount of additional steps I create for myself when doing them.

The worst bit is that this amount of planning takes the joy away from doing simple tasks. Rather than simply washing the dishes when I see them, I multi-task that with when I’m waiting for food to be cooked. I’m inadvertently training my brain to always have several things on the go. This takes away from the satisfaction of cleaning my kitchen, because I’m not taking the time to do the job properly.

Ironically, a lot of what I do within my workplace is to break down tasks into as simple tasks as possible. I want to avoid making tasks feel complicated, as I can see how much of a disempowering effect that can have. I think it’s what has driven a lot of my professional success.

Yet in my personal life, I am making my tasks far more complicated than they need to be. I’ve noticed that this makes me less likely to follow good habits, and I find it harder to relax afterwards. I’ve noticed recently that I end up doing things like watching something on TV whilst also scrolling on my phone at the same time, because a single source of stimulation is not enough.

This over-efficiency habit is not conducive for calmness and deeper presence. Whilst there are moments where it can be useful, such as reacting to a short term deadline, it’s not the best way to live in the longer term.

Another way of looking at it is living more in the moment. Living in the moment means choosing whether we react to the things that are in front of us. It means we are far more likely to do our laundry by getting straight into action – rather than getting stuck in the thought that the laundry needs to be done and put it off for later.

I invite you to look at your life. See where you might be making your life more complicated than it needs to be. Simplifying actions may actually be the real time-hack.