Tag: coping

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

Today’s tip is to remember a tough time during the pandemic and how you got through it.

The pandemic seems to be easing for me the last month, so I’m definitely coping better. However, I talk with people around the world, and their experiences often remind me of how life was months ago for me.

One of the tough times I had in the last year was last fall. I friend died from COVID, I got the disease, and Colorado locked down quite a bit more than we had before that. I couldn’t go places, visit people, and even my coaching outlet shut down for awhile. There were some days in the late fall when things felt hopeless. I knew they weren’t, but to me, I was struggling to be positive.

One thing that helped me was talking.

I don’t do that well, or often enough, with those close to me. I especially don’t share my struggles well, but I learned to share more with my wife, and she supported me. I talked with my kids, and a few friends, getting them to remind me of good things, to try and find ways to get me to smile, relax, and find hope.

It worked, and many things got better in life and the world.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

Today’s tip is to take a break and do something for yourself.

I’m actually taking a break tomorrow. After the world’s longest volleyball season, we said goodbye to kids in Orlando at our last tournament. It was a bit rushed, not all parents were there, and it felt a little incomplete.

Tomorrow we set up an end of year party. This is late, especially as most kids are already on a team for next year, and back to their summer lives and involved with their high school teams. However, we’re getting together, and while I’ll do some chores, I’ll take a break and spend some time just having fun, reminiscing with everyone and closing out the 10+ months I spent with these kids every week.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

Today’s tip is to let go of small stuff and focus on something that matters.

Small stuff is just that. It’s not really important in life. I’m very blessed in that most of my life is pretty perfect. There are little things that annoy me, but they are little.

Last week I lost my wallet. I ran some errands, used a card, and the next day realized I didn’t have my wallet. I didn’t see any fraudulent charges when I turned off all my cards. I searched all over the house, but couldn’t find it anywhere. It really annoyed me, more than it should. There were a few hundred dollars in various currencies in there, and a number of credit cards, but nothing that was really that important.

After a few hours of looking, I gave up and started replacing cards and my license. I had to decide to stop being upset and just move on with life. The important things that day were spending some time with family, and this wasn’t enough of a problem to interrupt that.

All in all, it’s a minor hiccup in life, no matter how annoying at the time.

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral 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. 

Today’s tip is to pick one of your strengths and use it this week.

The easy joke is that I used my pectorals and did some weightlifting. However, this week I picked a different strength. This week I used: people pleasing and support.

My wife had a dressage competition this week. We ended up driving to a show and living in a camper for a few days, during some of which I worked. A show is stressful, both for her and the horse, and they have a schedule they’re trying to stick to. It was also hot, and limited amenities around.

Instead of trying to maintain my schedule, find time to work out, etc., I decided to be completely supportive and help my wife with her schedule. I didn’t worry about my workouts, I moved my work around her competition times, and I was ready to jump in and tackle tasks she asked for or needed, subordinating what I wanted to thought I could get done.

That’s a little stressful, as I try to still work, but I let many things go, relaxed where I could, and made the show the priority.

It worked out well, and now I’m back into a normal schedule for me, hitting the gym and worrying about my own chores. She’s happy, too. She qualified for a season ending show, and felt the trip was a success.