Today’s coping tip is to be gentle with yourself when you make mistakes.
I forgot about a commitment. I had agreed to do a webinar and prepare some content. I got busy with life, almost forgot the webinar, and was scrambling to put together a couple of slides. I got something ready, but it didn’t look great, and I wasn’t happy with it.
Fortunately, I never needed the slides in the webinar.
I was upset with myself, and I spent a few minutes berating myself, as well as thinking “what could I do differently?” Should I set more reminders? Do I need a better to-do list? Should I let some personal things go to ensure I stay on task?
Ultimately I stopped that. I had planned for the webinar, it was on my calendar, and I had done some prep the week before. I got hung up this week with a few personal issues, and that is something I need to accept will happen. Things worked out, so I need to forgive this mistake.
I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.
Voice of the DBA 
Is this “Daily Coping” really still necessary? I get why you started it but the majority of the world has moved on and realizes covid is here to stay like the Flu. Most places have either settled into a mix of remote and at office work while the rest pick primarily one or the other. There’s no longer anything to cope with that wasn’t a part of life pre-covid
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Not sure. I was looking to end this in summer 2022 and quite a few people asked to continue. It’s something I’ve debated. I may look to stop this spring.
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If you had people asking you to continue my guess is they still haven’t moved on; still fear covid in some way. The problem is that continuing on with something after it’s really moved on just prolongs the time until it’s finally time to let go.
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Perhaps. I’m not longer worried about COVID. It’s just the flu, but I do think the world can be challenging, especially as I look at my kids and their growth as adults. coping with stress is still a good thing. I find these items sometimes help me grow and embrace life, good and bad.
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