Maintaining Healthy Balances and Recognizing When They're Not
Ideas on pursuing our individual dreams, not the dreams of others. Learning to hear our inner voice to guide us toward them while filtering out the noise of modern society’s dream pushers.
Hi,
I didn’t write a newsletter last week. It feels good to be back at it this week.
Last week was a holiday weekend for two major religions. Is that why I didn’t write it?
Nope, not really.
I ended up working half days on both Saturday and Sunday. As a result, I didn’t make time to write this newsletter.
I try not to work on weekends. It’s a boundary I’ve set. I’ve learned over time that doing this gives me critical time to rest and recharge. This time is essential for my emotional, psychological and physical health.
I was aware of crossing this boundary. I also enjoy my work. Yet still…
My stress levels increased. I felt more stressed around my family when I did disconnect. One reason was because I didn’t have any transition time. I went right from being “on” for work to being “on” for the family.
I also felt more fatigued and depleted, physically and mentally, earlier in the week than usual. Being aware of this felt hopeful. It reminded me that working both weekend days actually forms a bridge to working 12 days straight, rather than 5.
When I’m feel fatigued and depleted, everything starts feeling hard. This is something else I was reminded of. Even what usually feel like simple tasks start feeling difficult.
I feel grateful to now have the insight into what not feeling depleted and fatigued feels like. Just Rolling with It has provided this to me. As a result, I realized why I felt the way I felt and that it didn’t have to be this way. Life could actually feel lighter and easier than it was feeling.
I had allowed myself to slip into an unhealthy balance between work exertion and rest. Discovering and maintaining this balance is a core concept of Just Rolling with It.
It’s with this realization I set the intention to not work this weekend. I feel hopeful to have learned what the effects of feeling unbalanced feel like, developing the awareness to become cognizant of when it happens, while developing the tools necessary to restore a healthy balance.
(And in case you were wondering, I don’t count writing newsletter as work. It feels therapeutic to me 😊. My gratitude to each of you for providing this platform to me.)
What indicators tell you that your balance has become unhealthy?
Let me know by replying directly to this email.
Catch you next week,
Chris
Semi-Random Thoughts
The blog migration’s getting closer. You can access this newsletter here until the migration is done.
I’m still looking for podcast recommendations to feature each week. Since I’m riding my bike outside more now, I’m listening to fewer podcasts during indoor training. Please let me know if there are any podcasts you’ve listened to once or listen to regularly that you feel intersect with JRWI.
Photo of the Week
Image by justrollingwithit
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Current Reading List
Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing by Usha Lad
Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing has 137 ratings and 12 reviews.
Prakriti: Your Ayurvedic Constitution by Robert E. Svoboda
Prakriti book. Read 37 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. Dr. Svoboda’s original work on the constitutional types in Ayurveda.
The Cabin Porn Book
The Cabin Porn Book by Zach Klein: Inspiration for Your Quiet Place Somewhere. From handmade tiny homes and rustic log cabins to modern A-frames, Cabin Porn encourages those yearning of a simpler life in nature. Feature photography by Noah Kalina.
How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods: The Ultimate Guide to Building and Maintaining a Backcountry Getaway by J. Wayne Fears
How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods has 118 ratings and 14 reviews. Sarah said: Practical advice about buying land and constructing a cabin that f…
The Abundance of Less: Lessons in Simple Living from Rural Japan by Andy Couturier
The Abundance of Less has 133 ratings and 29 reviews.
Music of the Week
deepa GROOVES 004 by Brian Burnside | Free Listening on SoundCloud
Stream deepa GROOVES 004 by Brian Burnside from desktop or your mobile device.
Podcast of the Week
Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase on leaving Goldman and the Innovator's Dilemma
Fred is an “OG” in the crypto world. But we barely talk crypto — instead, we talk about his journey. Fred joined Goldman as an FX Trader because it was “the cool kids” job, only to find an industry suffering from the classic Innovator’s Dilemma — one focused on extracting rents, instead of innovation.