Tag: life

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.

Today’s tip is to go outside, play, walk, run, exercise, relax.

Last Friday Colorado moved a number of counties to the “red” level for the pandemic. We also added a “purple” level to our dial of risk. I appreciate trying to manage things, while also finding ways for life to move forward.

This means that for some people, the level of restriction that exits precludes much ability to leave your house. However, I haven’t seen a complete lockdown anywhere that prevents any leaving.

You have your own tolerance for risk, but for me, going outside to walk a little, to take a trip to a store or restaurant (even with contactless delivery/pickup), or even to go say hi to a neighbor from a distance is worth it. There is something about being in nature, even in a city, being outside, looking around, enjoying life away from the four walls of my residence that I like.

I’m lucky, on a ranch with the need to go outside regularly, especially if something is broken, but I appreciate the ability to walk outside in cities when I travel, taking a moment to enjoy life outside, watch the world, and walk, run, or even sit with a drink and see the world around me.

Recently I’ve been chatting with some friends, and I left my desk to walk outside and continue the conversation there. It helps when you have a couple friends hanging out as well.

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.

Today’s tip is to choose a different route and see what you notice on the way.

The pandemic has kept most of us at home. We drive less, go less places, do less. For me, while I still go a few places, I do less for sure.

When I saw this item pop up, I had to think about how I’d choose a new route. Walking from my house only gives me one route for a mile to get to the end of my street and out to a place where I can then go in a few directions. Driving around, it often doesn’t make sense to go a different way, but I thought this might be a good way to change my day.

I’m lucky in that my gym has been open since May, and while there are restrictions and limitations, I can go. My week usually has 3-4 trips, twice for yoga and 1-2 trips for weights. I’ve avoided most classes, though I may go back to a swim a week as well.

The route there is pretty simple, and while the facility is about 10mi away, I can take a separate route, wind through some neighborhoods slightly out of my way, and keep this to about 14mi.

I did that recently. I took the long way, which winds alongside E-470 in S Denver, but also has a small bridge over the highway. That leads to the back of the neighborhood where I used to live. I drove through, looking at houses where friends used to live, or I used to bike/walk/horseback ride through. It was a nice trip on which to reminisce.

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.

Today’s tip is to be overcome frustration by trying out a new approach.

I tend to go with the flow, and I don’t have a lot of frustrations with how my life goes, but I do have some. I’m annoyed that my gym limits class sizes and quite a few people seem to reserve spots and then not show up. However, I’m also grateful I can just go.

I’m annoyed that despite months of fairly safe competition and practice in volleyball, with little evidence of transmission from games, that counties have blanketly closed all competitions. I get it, and I know this disease isn’t something to take lightly, but I also know we need to balance that with continuing to live.

Our club cancelled full practices, limiting us to 5 athletes and two coaches for skills, no competition. That makes coaching hard, and this is a challenge with keeping a team together. After talking with my assistant, rather getting upset, we decided to donate an extra day of time and split out practices to conform to the limits and work on keeping kids in the gym twice a week, along with a rotation so that different teammates get a chance to see each other.

A minor part of my life, but still frustrating. Taking a positive approach and changing up how I work through this has helped cope with the frustration.

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.

Today’s tip is to be curious. Learn about a new topic or an inspiring idea.

I try to learn often. Awhile ago, my daughter had some exposure to welding and wanted to take a class. We looked around and found one at a local shop. We booked it, and a few days ago, we went and spent a few hours welding.

A neat experience, I learned a lot, and I think we’ll invest in one soon. I also learned I’m not very good at this and need a lot of practice.