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 thank yourself for achieving things you often take for granted.

I think I get a lot done, and I expect that I will do so. I also tend to just assume these are the things I need to do because I’m responsible, accountable, etc. for these tasks.

One of the things that I enjoy, but I also know that makes a difference, is I cook dinner. My wife doesn’t like to cook. My son will, but he’d rather not have the burden of deciding on a dish and shopping. If I do those things, he doesn’t mind.

It’s relaxing for me when I have time, but stressful when I’m busy. However, I also know everyone appreciates it rather than having the throw something together for themselves. It’s a shared chore, not assigned to anyone, but one that I usually take on.

I somewhat take for granted it’s my job, but I have started to internally recognize that it’s a good thing and I can thank myself.

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 make progress on a project or task you’ve been avoiding.

I have a lot of projects. Work, home, hobbies, and more. I rarely have a day when I don’t feel there is something I should be doing.

I am also good at avoiding some projects. For various reasons, I will delay certain things over and over. During the lockdown, I was a bit better at tackling some long overdue projects, but not all of them.

This year, I’d been putting off cutting the grass in the fields at the ranch. I regularly cut the green grass by the house, but the larger pastures need mowing once a year to knock down yucca plants and clean out some of the weeds that grow. When I do this once a year, we end up with healthier grasses the following year.

However, this is a project. It’s about 30-40 hours of mowing on the tractor. I kept delaying it, mostly because the tractor is behind two gates, and it’s a pain to get out. It also has to go back every day or two because it’s used to load hay into wagons. As a result, my plan to get the pasture mowed this fall was getting delayed. Finally I started just before my trip to Europe. I got the tractor out, attached the mower, and starting cutting. I had timed this so I had an afternoon and the next morning before the tractor was needed for hay. I spent about 5-6 hours across two days getting going on this project.

I got back from Europe and decided this was a relatively easy project to work on this past Sunday. 3 more hours, and things are looking better.

Now I need to just keep going across the next few weeks, doing an hour or two a few days a week and hope to get done before October ends.

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 set hopeful but realistic goals for this week.

It’s a busy week here for me. After coming back from travels, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do at SQLServerCentral. I also have a number of work commitments, with other goals I’d like to accomplish this week in my life.

What I feel I need to do:

• get to the gym 4 times
• go for a hike
• get to a high school volleyball game
• spend a few hours mowing the lawn
• paint a fence post
• run the weed whacker one last time and trim around the house and empty the gas tank
• fix the string trimmer head on the weed whacker to cleanly dispense new string
• cook dinner every night
• see a movie with my wife on the weekend (first one since 2019)
• finish painting the bathroom
• catchup on laundry

Realistically, this is too much, with 2 presentations to give, a third to record, and a number of other meetings. Likely I’ll need to decide which things are realistic for the week and weekend. I’ll choose:

• get to the gym 4 times
• go for a hike
• get to a high school volleyball game
• spend a few hours mowing the lawn
• fix the string trimmer head on the weed whacker to cleanly dispense new
  string
• see a movie with my wife on the weekend (first one since 2019)

I’ll probably be able to cook a few nights, I might get to actually trim something or do some painting, I’ll do some laundry. I also know I need some downtime, I want to relax with the guitar, and spend some time with my son.

We’ll see how I did on Sunday.

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 be a realistic optimist. See life as it is, but focus on the good.

This is something I’m writing while in Belgium, earlier this week. I am optimistic in life, even as the world struggles in different ways with the pandemic. We are still moving through this, with various places and organizations trying to find ways to cope.

I am at the first live technical conference I’ve been to in nearly two years. The event is following the local guidance in Mechelen in Belgium. Things have changed a bit since I submitted and was accepted to the event, and the conference was still viable as the date approached. My travels were fairly smooth, and I think, fairly safe. I know there are still challenges, there are people with different levels of comfort with crowds and greetings, and I respect their thoughts.

From what I see, most people I’ve encountered in Chicago, London, Brussels, and Mechelen just adjust to the rules and how others feel. If someone asks for space, or requests a mask, wants an elbow bump, or is happy to shake hands, others oblige. That gives me hope and optimism for how we will grow and interact in the future.

I also know that there are still risks involved, especially for unvaccinated people. This event is live, but not hybrid, which inherently cuts out some people that might not be able to attend or be concerned about health. There is a risk of spreading COVID 19, though everyone is supposed to be vaccinated or taking precautions. Travelers were tested coming into Belgium, which may or may not be 100% accurate.

That’s the world. It’s reality. There is a balance of risk, precaution, reward, restrictions, and life that need to be weighed, but I am confident that most people are making good decisions and complying with the rules.