Living & Working in a Different World

When Friday rolled around last week I found myself quite edgy to start the day. Unless it’s a race weekend, I usually complete a bike workout every Friday morning. Like any other morning after I complete a run or ride workout and begin my work day I go in with very good energy. Not Friday. When I took my first call at 8:00 AM I wasn’t going in peppy, but exhausted. I most people were simply spent from a long and stressful week…

I struggled getting up to start the bike workout and sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes contemplating what I would do. I got up and as I was getting ready I noticed a podcast I subscribe to released an episode over night. It turned out to be a brilliant episode hosted by Dan Harris (ABC News and Founder of Ten Percent Happier). I have been a follower of Dan over the last several years, subscribed to his meditation app last year and found him and his experts extremely helpful. If you are not familiar with Dan’s story and journey in this space, this brief video gives good context…panic attack on Good Morning America while delivering an update…life changing event for him.

The episode released Friday, How to Actually Get Work Done at Home, was in interview with two of the heads from a company called, Potential Project. They addressed the realities we are facing right now including:

1. Distractions
2. Family (balancing and dealing with them in the home while trying to work)
3. Virtual Collaboration
4. Managing feelings of isolation

Potential Project provides customized, organizational effectiveness programs based on mindfulness and works with organizations like Cisco, LEGO, Accenture, Microsoft and more so it was interesting to hear their perspectives and experiences in the current state we are facing. One of the founders, Jacqueline Carter, was doing the interview while being trapped in Copenhagen where she was working with a firm when travel was shut down prior to her exit home (Canada).

Dan is also hosting a daily live guided meditation at 3:00 PM EST to provide support during this time and if you miss it, he will have the recording available.

I subscribed to Dan’s meditation app in the past and found it of great benefit. As a change up this year, I went back to another app I used previously, Headspace, from Andy Puddicombe. Andy recently released a free selection of meditation, sleep, and other experiences designed to support during the current situation titled, Weathering the Storm.

I am really making an effort to be more consistent with meditation and since activities have ramped up recently I’ve found it harder to find time to do it and of course that’s when I/we need it the most. A work in progress…

I listened to another interview on this topic I found helpful. It is from the mindbodygreen  podcast titled, How to deal with COVID-induced anxiety. This is hosted by Jason Wachob, founder & co-CEO of mindbodygreen along with guest, Ellen Vora, M.D. Ellen is a board-certified psychiatrist, acupuncturist, and yoga teacher.

In the episode they discuss how to deal with our anxiety surrounding the coronavirus and:

• How to have a healthy information diet
• How to ramp up self-care amidst a global pandemic
• What we can learn as a species from COVID-19

I found both podcast episodes therapeutic in that it helped me realize the anxieties I’m facing are quite normal and they provide great tactics to help. I recommend listening to both as we all relate to things differently based on our circumstances. The conversations certainly triggered ideas for me to consider with all of the topics bulleted above.

Here is a brief list of things I’m trying to to do:

• At wake up, not looking at anything with potentially negative news for at least 90 minutes. Another podcast I listened to last week cited this – People who watch just three minutes of negative news in the morning have a whopping 27 percent greater likelihood of reporting their day as unhappy or depressing six to eight hours later.
• Meditate daily
• Get enough sleep and downshift (electronics turn-off prior to bedtime and delay on wake-up)
• Connect with family and friends
• Give – giving to others is such a great pick-me-up
• Exercise – this continues to provide both physical and mental wellness (I love my time to think on a long run or ride or connect with friends)…stress reliever
• Eat healthy – I’m focusing on eating as much whole plant foods I can and in this environment it only helps boost my immune system more to fight viruses
• Manage information I’m taking in – read/view information from trusted sources that do not have agendas fueling their communications. Also I’m consuming information about the current situation in chunks and not constantly throughout the day.
• Spend quality time with Morgan – we’re cooking together, watching movies, discussing events, life, and her next steps in determining the law school of choice starting in August. This has been a silver lining…more time with my girl.

I hope this helps in some way.

– Add Health to Your Life

*Thank you Dan Radde for the long run on The Clay Loop Sunday and capturing the featured blog photo. That run helped:

• alleviate stress
• connect with a friend
• push my physical and mental limits
• get my day off to a great start