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. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s tip is to looking back at the pandemic, what things have changed in how you live your life?

This is an interesting tip to me, as I’ve been thinking about how the last two years has gone as my life is slowly coming out of the pandemic and moving into the endemic phase.

Note: I know not everyone feels this way and that’s fine. This is my view

Travel and work is the biggest change for me. I’ve spent a lot of time on the road, usually 30+ days a year outside of my home country, and attended lots of events (work and personal), meeting and chatting with lots of people.

That changed with the pandemic. One flight in 2020, and a few camping trips, but seeing relatively few people. 2021 was better, with about 10 trips, but mostly personal and seeing few people related to work.

2022 is looking better, but still slower, with less travel.

I cook more now. I got in the habit of spending more time in the evenings cooking, which is relaxing. It’s cheaper and better for me and the family. That has continued, and I’m finding myself making time to cook, rather than “grabbing” something out.

A slower lifestyle. That was the flipside of 2020. Things slowed down and I spent more time with family, and more time not being as busy. That again is changing, and I’m not quite sure how I feel. I like the chaos of being busy, but I also miss the slow times. It ave me a glimpse of what retirement could be, and I enjoyed it.

The last thing is that I’ve put up with video calls for years. Nearly 15 years at this point, though I bet 80% or so of all calls in my life have taken place since March 2020.

I realize how poor video calls are compared with live meetings and how much I hate them. I am really fatigued with Zoom and look to avoid the calls. I’ve considered opening up a weekly call for people that might want to chat, but I can’t find the energy or enthusiasm.

There’s likely more, but those are the things that came to mind today.

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 look back at the pandemic; what are the strangest memories you have?

I wrote this tip because I ran across some old pictures from the last two years. Here are a few things that struck me as strange.

I found myself doing yoga on the front lawn because the gym was closed.

I had really taken it for granted that I could go to the gym every week. Maybe not every day, but I’d get there and be able to take a class or use weights. While I could do yoga alone, and I had some videos out in the yard, I was surprised that a) I didn’t have other options, and b) it worked out pretty well. I enjoyed being out there in the spring and am looking forward to it periodically this year.

I’ve traveled a lot for years, and I’ve seen plenty of people in masks in airports and on planes, albeit a minority. I still can’t believe that we got so many people to wear masks, we had regulations, and I coached in one with kids playing sports in one.

I’ve enjoyed some online gatherings, but I can’t believe that I was a part of multiple online classes for cooking or cocktail making. If you had asked me my interest level in 2019 for this, I would have said zero. The last two years I’ve looked forward to a few.

I’ve lived in America for most of my life. This is the land of plenty, and often, excess. I’ve lived in places with hurricanes and blizzards, and seen shops quite empty at times because the demand far exceeds the supply, at least for some items.

I was surprised to see so many empty shelves, especially a lack of toilet paper, early in the pandemic. A very strange time for me.

In line with that, I remember coming out of volleyball practice one night and going to the store to get things for the next day, only to find it closed. All stores were closed around 8 or 9pm. Quite an experience for me.

Perhaps one really strange thing for me was a lot of time with horses. Not just around them, as that’s normal, but on them. I never look to ride very often, but I will if my wife asks. We plan some trips, but around the house I’m usually busy or traveling myself.

In 2020, I ended up taking more rides with my wife around our property and the local area because there wasn’t much else to do. No distractions, nothing open, no work trips, so I spent a lot of time on horseback.

Well, not a lot, but a lot for me.

Overall the pandemic was not that hard for me. In some ways, it was enjoyable as life slowed down, more time with family, I had all my kids some again for a period of time, and I used all my vacation.

Maybe that was the best part. Usually work gets in the way of too many personal trips, but in I managed to get out, camp and travel a bit, using up all my vacation with family.

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 support a local business with a positive review or friendly message.

I like supporting local people, and try to do it regularly. Recently we were on vacation in the Colorado mountains, in a place we go often. There are a few restaurants that we visit often, like the Dam Brewery or Dos Locos.

This time, as we were driving around, I saw a new place, the Eclectic Bar and Grill. I pulled in, thinking to just try a new place.

It was fantastic, and quiet on a late afternoon. We ended up talking with the manager and praising the menu and food, which was great. I also took time to drop a review on Google. Hopefully they get popular enough to stay in business.

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 smile at people today and try to brighten their day.

This is something I try to practice regularly, and it’s something I did this past weekend. I coached at a tournament, which means I was around lots of other people. I miss that in the tech world, but I am getting the experience with coaching.

Since we are now without masks, I can smile at people as I walk past, see them, interact. I smiled at referees, other players, other coaches, even parents. Usually saying hi if they meet my eye, but often getting a smile back in returns.

Smiling is infectious. Do it often.