All that, and you're still standingIt was one of those super-stressful weeks for the day job in which I’d already almost worked forty hours by Wednesday. This isn’t uncommon when we have project conferences, and there is much PowerPoint engineering, but this particular project is also in the midst of a bidding process to see whether we can win a phase 3, so everything is under a microscope. Which meant I didn’t sleep much, and I certainly didn’t have time to do much other than give hubs a hug hello and head to bed once I finally got home.

So when I saw this tweet Friday, it filled a special spot in my heart:

Lucky for me, I have a very understanding hubs and family. To make up for all the time I spent not-at-home this week, we had movie night here last night. We enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok and dinner together, and somehow laughed harder watching the movie the second time through.

Of course, I still kept my eye on reporting on leadership. New research results show how much harder it is for us to imagine women being leaders; winning a job is all about projecting the happy warrior image; and, apparently, I should not apply for a job at Microsoft, given its track record on harassment. There was also an interesting take on how to retrain males out of the mold of toxic masculinity. Finally, as my colleagues and I wrapped up our work week, a good reminder of what burn-out is and how to combat it. Then I saw a video by a woman I follow on Twitter, that applies some of the tools we use in software development in the Agile framework, and applies them to our personal lives. Her take on retrospectives, and applying them as a way of systematically improving ourselves based on our own core values reminded me a lot of the kind of accountability we get in our Rounds of Words. Her framing of “getting out of the shame spiral” was almost incidental to everything else she said, but was another reminder that sometimes, life happens. When we get through it, and we’re still standing, it’s good enough to take a rest and a break, and know that you will live again another day. Being intentional about looking back on what worked and what didn’t  gives us the perspective to know where we can make small improvements over time.

So my phone said I averaged 3,334 steps per day last week. I’m glad I got at least a little bit of walking in. And my phone says I averaged 6 hours and 20 minutes of sleep during the week, which makes me grateful for the very long sleep-ins I enjoyed yesterday and today.

This Round is over, pretty much. I didn’t finish editing any of the three books I have edits for, but I am consistently walking and nourishing my relationship with hubs. I suppose I’ll call it a wash, though I could wish that the minutes I have to be a writer in the current version of my life were sufficient to accomplish more. I’ll keep reporting, and I’ll be checking in with the other ROW80ers, so I’ll see you again next week.

Related Posts

Your Two Cents

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.