Tomorrow morning I'm following through on what I've been threatening all week. I'm closing my office door for a couple hours, so that I can't be disturbed. This has been the week where suddenly everyone has needed a piece of my time and attention. I've rarely had a 20 minute span without someone stopping into my office or stopping me in the hallways to see about something that needs to be taken care of. So tomorrow morning I'm going to close the door for a bit and see if that helps. I badly need to get a project under control, and I can't think of another way to get it done.
I really do have some great things to blog about too, but this week has been so busy that I've been doing well to snatch 10 or 15 minutes either before work or during my lunch hour to jot a few thoughts in my journal, never mind to get to blogging them. And right now my journal is definitely needing to be a priority.
In the meantime, here are a couple of things that caught my attention today:
This blog post (which I read quite some time ago, and came across again today) about changing seasons - a powerful quote from Graham Cooke.
This blog post about self-pity.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Quote of the Day
I'm having another one of those crazy, run off my feet kind of days. That's three in a row now, if you happen to be counting (not that I am or anything.)
So, while I'm busy exclaiming "Holy Cannoli!" and reminding myself to smile and breathe, I'll leave you with a quote from the calendar that sits on my desk. While I don't quite agree with the extremity of her position, it did make me stop and ponder.
"I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions."
(Servant of God Dorothy Day)
So, while I'm busy exclaiming "Holy Cannoli!" and reminding myself to smile and breathe, I'll leave you with a quote from the calendar that sits on my desk. While I don't quite agree with the extremity of her position, it did make me stop and ponder.
"I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions."
(Servant of God Dorothy Day)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Daily 5 - Day 7
Today's 5 things:
- Leftover mexican food for dinner.
- a short phone call that left me slightly encouraged
- having time to shower in between work and going out for the evening (not necessary, but refreshing after a difficult day)
- a gift of a Jewish calendar that my roommate purchased for me on the weekend because she knew I'd really appreciate it.
- our temporary receptionist volunteering to stay a bit longer than usual to cover the phones so I could have at least a bit of a lunch break.
Holy Cannoli (Redux)
This has been an absolutely nutty day.
An all over the place roller-coaster, and there's still two and a half hours of work left, followed by an evening with a friend.
My g-chat status right now reads, "Breathe. Exclaim "Holy Cannoli!" Laugh at the ridiculous exclamation. Breathe again, and get back at it with a smile."
I think I need to add, "eat chocolate" before the bit about breathing again - it'll help with the smile.
And with that, I'm off to follow my own advice - find some chocolate, take another deep breath, and dive back in.
An all over the place roller-coaster, and there's still two and a half hours of work left, followed by an evening with a friend.
My g-chat status right now reads, "Breathe. Exclaim "Holy Cannoli!" Laugh at the ridiculous exclamation. Breathe again, and get back at it with a smile."
I think I need to add, "eat chocolate" before the bit about breathing again - it'll help with the smile.
And with that, I'm off to follow my own advice - find some chocolate, take another deep breath, and dive back in.
Challenging Morning
My "official" work day is not quite half an hour old, and I'm already having a challenging morning.
I've had a conversation in semi-official capacity, needing to encourage a particular (very new) staff member to stick it out. There was frustration over interaction with another staff member, and I needed to hold my own thoughts about that staff member in check, while communicating to the staff member I was talking to that there are definitely ways to work around the things that were discouraging her and causing her stress.
And then, then I got to deal with a lecture. Somewhat deserved I suppose. The way I responded to a particular question last night (though certainly unintentional) probably didn't present the best image to the person I was responding to, or to the client he was conversing with. So, I apologized, and I'll work on that in the future. But, at the same time, that moment underscored a far larger communication problem which the person lecturing me continually refuses to acknowledge.
So, I'm starting the day off already feeling frustrated. Which is making life more challenging these days, since I'm making a colossal effort to encounter life in a more joyful and positive manner.
It probably doesn't help that after a fantastic weekend, I found yesterday at the office to be particularly challenging in that regard. There are good reasons that my roommate has taken to referring to my place of employment as "The Soap Opera", and to some extent, those reasons were out in full force yesterday. It didn't help that because the staff person who usually covers my lunch breaks is away for a couple of days, there is really no one to replace her, and I essentially ended up working through my lunch hour yesterday as well (and probably will again today). I was definitely less than excited about the prospect of getting out of bed this morning and returning to the tensions of the office.
I went out for a very enjoyable dinner with a long-time friend last night, and ended up arriving home at exactly the same time as my roommate. We sat in the living room talking, and I found myself so exhausted from the day - from the challenges at work, from the various interactions with people, and from the colossal effort to not agree with all of the negative "voices" that habitually stir within me that I was once again in tears. My roommate has, thankfully, been very patient this summer as tears have continually spilled over. At least last night's stemmed mostly from exhaustion, and perhaps, just a little bit of discouragement over how difficult I'm finding this current challenge to make different choices.
So. I just had a telephone conversation that helped. I'm not feeling totally incompetent in my job. I'll watch the way I express myself.
And I'll remember that I had a really lovely and peaceful morning commute, listening to a sermon that eased my heart and reminded me that God is with me and will give strength even for these things that seem so disastrously hard. I'll sip tea. I'll choose to anticipate that my coworker (and friend with whom I vent a little to blow off the frustrations of the office) returns tomorrow. I'll play music that causes my heart to focus on all the beautiful (if challenging and hard) things that Jesus is doing in my heart right now. And I'll plan to play a good, encouraging, we believe in miracles, sort of charismatic sermon driving home again. Because by that time, I'll probably need it.
I've had a conversation in semi-official capacity, needing to encourage a particular (very new) staff member to stick it out. There was frustration over interaction with another staff member, and I needed to hold my own thoughts about that staff member in check, while communicating to the staff member I was talking to that there are definitely ways to work around the things that were discouraging her and causing her stress.
And then, then I got to deal with a lecture. Somewhat deserved I suppose. The way I responded to a particular question last night (though certainly unintentional) probably didn't present the best image to the person I was responding to, or to the client he was conversing with. So, I apologized, and I'll work on that in the future. But, at the same time, that moment underscored a far larger communication problem which the person lecturing me continually refuses to acknowledge.
So, I'm starting the day off already feeling frustrated. Which is making life more challenging these days, since I'm making a colossal effort to encounter life in a more joyful and positive manner.
It probably doesn't help that after a fantastic weekend, I found yesterday at the office to be particularly challenging in that regard. There are good reasons that my roommate has taken to referring to my place of employment as "The Soap Opera", and to some extent, those reasons were out in full force yesterday. It didn't help that because the staff person who usually covers my lunch breaks is away for a couple of days, there is really no one to replace her, and I essentially ended up working through my lunch hour yesterday as well (and probably will again today). I was definitely less than excited about the prospect of getting out of bed this morning and returning to the tensions of the office.
I went out for a very enjoyable dinner with a long-time friend last night, and ended up arriving home at exactly the same time as my roommate. We sat in the living room talking, and I found myself so exhausted from the day - from the challenges at work, from the various interactions with people, and from the colossal effort to not agree with all of the negative "voices" that habitually stir within me that I was once again in tears. My roommate has, thankfully, been very patient this summer as tears have continually spilled over. At least last night's stemmed mostly from exhaustion, and perhaps, just a little bit of discouragement over how difficult I'm finding this current challenge to make different choices.
So. I just had a telephone conversation that helped. I'm not feeling totally incompetent in my job. I'll watch the way I express myself.
And I'll remember that I had a really lovely and peaceful morning commute, listening to a sermon that eased my heart and reminded me that God is with me and will give strength even for these things that seem so disastrously hard. I'll sip tea. I'll choose to anticipate that my coworker (and friend with whom I vent a little to blow off the frustrations of the office) returns tomorrow. I'll play music that causes my heart to focus on all the beautiful (if challenging and hard) things that Jesus is doing in my heart right now. And I'll plan to play a good, encouraging, we believe in miracles, sort of charismatic sermon driving home again. Because by that time, I'll probably need it.
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