Tag: coping

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

Today’s item from the newsletter is “stay hydrated and eat well”.

I usually exercise regularly and try to have a decent diet. Food certainly is a weakness for me, and I’m definitely a comfort eater, especially when I’m stressed. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to change.

That being said, I’m trying to be more cognizant, since I can drink too much coffee and diet soda. I’ve started to make it a habit to fill multiple water bottles and leave them on my desk. Less counting, and this reminds me to drink this much at a minimum.

This is 80oz, which isn’t a gallon, and not really enough in Denver, which is a high desert. I’ve been good about emptying these three each day and then getting at least into most of one more, if not two.

For food, we purchased a bunch of food from a few restaurants the first week to support them. Good in that we supported a Mexican place with a bunch of small burritos and a Chinese restaurant. Not so good as it wasn’t too healthy and I ate too many. This on top of my wife swinging by Krispy Kreme while buying horse food.

I’m making an effort this week to cook more. I enjoy cooking, and it’s slowly wearing off that this isn’t an immediate crisis and instead I need to get back to normal for the long term, even if that means fewer grocery trips. I am working to do more vegetarian meals, as my wife and son try to avoid meat. My daughter is gluten sensitive, so this forces me to be more creative and careful with cooking. Falling back on my youth of easy casseroles and lots of ground meat is easy, so I’m searching out new recipes and experimenting with more vegetables.

I’ve been taking daily vitamins for years, and I’m working to ensure I keep doing so to stay healthy. Ultimately I feel the more I exercise, the healthier I am. That’s been my experience, and it certainly helps my mental health. As a result, I’m trying to ensure I do something every day for at least 20 minutes, but hopefully 30, that raises my heart rate.

Those are my goals for this new normal, as I try to cope with this world.

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

Today’s item from me is to write down ten things I’m grateful for and why.

1. My wife –she’s the most important thing in my life and I’m lucky to be able to spend time with her each day and share my life.
2. My oldest son – He’s a very different person from me in many ways, but I can also see my influence on him in his actions and behaviors. He forces me to think and view the world differently.
3. My middle son – A much smarter person than I am, more focused and driven, which reminds me to stay humble as I am in awe of his talents.
4. My daughter – She has a creativity I lack and an inner strength that I admire.
5. My former business partner and friend – other than my wife, he has had the most influence on my across the last 15 years and we still talk weekly.
6. Redgate – A company that’s the kind of company I’d want to build. I appreciate our values and am honored to work there.
7. My boss – She helps keep me focused and grounded, and I look forward to our weekly chats.
8. Our dogs – They enrich my life, in a way that is different from my kids and I miss them when I’m traveling
9. The ranch – I live in an amazing place and I appreciate how lucky I am on a daily basis
10. The SQL community – I’ve helped in a small way, but I’m amazed how close this community has grown over the years.

I’m blessed and lucky in many ways. My life is as close to perfect as I’d imagine it could be. My problems are really minor annoyances and I strive to remember that every day.

I’ve started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here.

Today is the start of coping, and the newsletter has this in it:

• Keep Calm
• Stay Wise
• Be Kind

Interesting mantras, and they’re on the front page of the Action for Happiness site. Someone at Redgate pointed this out to me, and I needed it.

It’s hard to keep calm. I’ve had people with direct contact to me or my family get sick. There are people my family knows firsthand that have gotten sick but can’t determine if they have COVID-19 or a bad flu. It’s a scary time, but I’m trying to remind myself that my family and I are healthy and doing well. This is a new reality to cope with and we need to support each other for now.

I usually try to avoid news. The world has gotten very excitable, and there is a lot of sensationalism in the news. There’s a very disturbing partisanship online, and for the most part, I think people present themselves in a much poorer way than they do in person.

However, I also think it’s important to understand what’s going on. I try hard not to get emotional, but just understand more about this pandemic and what makes sense. I try not to blindly accept things, but look for some confirmation that I am better off doing A than B. It’s hard, but I’m trying to get some limited information and make smart choices.

I do think that this is the time to be more understanding and kind to others. That includes my family, as we’re self isolating for a few weeks. Close quarters bring conflicts, and so I am trying to remember to be kind when I can.

I think this is especially important online, so if I’m less talkative, it might be that I need to take a few breaths and remember this.

I’ll continue to talk about my coping mechanisms through this, and try to keep some daily things in the newsletter to think about.