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 focus on what’s good on a tough day.

Most of my days are pretty good, but there are some difficult days. As I tell my kids, every job is a job some days, no matter how much you love it.

Last week I had a hard day. I wasn’t feeling well, fighting a cold (or maybe breakthrough COVID, but I don’t think so). I needed to get a few things done, I wanted to work out, and I needed rest.

I decided to focus on the fact that I felt well enough to do something, and cut back where I could. I postponed some work, did a very light yoga workout in my bedroom, and took care of the one critical thing that needed to be done.

By the end of the day, I felt better. I shortened the day and went to bed early, but I did enough to appreciate that it turned out to be a good one.

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 get back in touch with an old friend.

Actually, I had an old friend get in touch with me. Someone I worked with years ago reached out and I responded. We actually scheduled lunch together and it was great. A very nice chance to catch up with each other’s lives and careers.

Worth the time and effort.

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 gentle with yourself when you make mistakes.

Our gate has been broken for a little over a month. I went out to work on it. I pulled the old one off, and was working to install the new one. The conduit under the driveway was clogged and I couldn’t get things through it. No wire, no string, no rebar with a sledgehammer. I had others help me, but bad weather and travel have slowed me.

It feels like I made a mistake thinking this would be easy, that I could do it myself, and that my approach was a good one. And that I wouldn’t get hurt. I lost a few days with a hurt back and sore wrist.

I had a garage door guy out for a repair recently and he said he could handle digging up the driveway with a trencher and replace the conduit. I could do the rest, or just let him do it, which is what my wife said I should do.

I felt like I made a few mistakes here and compounded them, but I have been telling myself I made a good effort and this is just a learning experience. I’m slowly learning to not beat myself up over mistakes.

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 get outside and notice 5 things.

In winter I tend not to do a lot outside. Unless I’m skiing. I don’t do enough hiking, unlike TJay Belt, who I see is outside most weekends. I like yoga, and I coach kids inside.

This is a good reminder for me to go outside and do something. It’s been un-seasonably warm in Denver, and with my wife gone for a couple days recently, I had to go outside with my daughter and help with horse chores. I noticed these things:

1. We have a lot of horses.
2. It is windy out here, even a little bit blows hay in my face as I’m feeding
3. It’s a long way ar0und the property to feed, even while driving
4. The sky is still vast and large, even as more houses are being built on the horizon
5. The drought in Colorado is bad.

Not so much nature, but things that stood out to me.