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 send a positive message to a friend who needs encouragement.

I get these sometimes from friends, and I love them. I also try to remember to do this.

I had a friend that had to go through a tough time with a family member being sick recently. Everything is fine, but I know the aftermath of this and trying to get back to normal is hard. I made it a point to reach out every day or two for a few days to check on them and just offer encouragement.

You could do that randomly as well, even if someone isn’t needing encouragement. Just let them know you are thinking of them.

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 spend a few minutes looking at a piece of art and think about what you enjoy about it.

I haven’t ever been a bit art fan. However, I saw an ad for the Van Gogh Experience in 2021 and mentioned that it looked interesting to my wife. She bought tickets and last fall we went. It was cool, and hard to describe, but essentially a movie version of many pieces being drawn on walls and evolving.

I really enjoyed it, and since then, I’ve kept a Van Gogh painting as a background on my desktop, rotating with a family photo or two and my coping calendar.

Right now, I have this piece on my desktop:

This reminds me of Europe, in old time, when we have life going on. People working, a horse and carriage on a daily journey of work, perhaps going to load up the work from people washing clothes in the river.

Perhaps because I do most of the laundry, I’m glad I don’t clean clothes in a river, but at the same time, there is a level of pleasure from accomplishing something manual like this.

I’m also amazed by the brightness of colors and how they paint a picture, despite being very different in similar places. The bricks of the bridge having yellowa, greens, oranges, even a bit of blue. It’s like a vivid reminder of the richness of life. I love the way m imagination creates the details that are blurry in this style of painting. I think I see something else in the water each time I look. Sometimes it’s the plants, sometimes I see fish. Sometimes I think there are more plants than others. Sometimes I can imagine the oil slicks or pollution I see in many rivers on my travels because of boat engines.

I find myself enjoying taking a moment on these paintings, thinking how Van Gogh’s life might be different and similar to mine.

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 listen to a favorite piece of music from the past.

I woke up the other day and saw a new album from BTS. I put it on and listened. Not that I’m a big BTS fan, but I haven’t heard much of their music, so I just put it on in the background as I worked.

Then I ran across this tip.

For some reason, I first thought about Changes, but 2Pac. It’s a song of life from the 90s, from the perspective of a young black man in the Baltimore/DC area. For some reason I can appreciate the struggle of growing up like this, even though my life has been nowhere near as hard as it is for many people.

However, I believe in changes and becoming better.

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 think of what is a little thing you are grateful for today?

I’m grateful that I enjoy my job. There are lots of things to be grateful for in my life, but this is one that occurred to me. My job can be tough some times, especially now with a lot of travel, and it can stink sometimes when deadlines or responsibilities create stress.

However, overall, I enjoy my job. I like the people, the challenges, the discussions, and the travel. That’s a nice perk that I can earn a good living and enjoy the process of doing so.