depending on your holiday situation, coming off this weekend is a nice feeling, even for me, which I will get into, but then how to navigate “getting back into the swing of things” at work kind of intrudes our world, especially on a Monday, I can’t say my Thanksgiving was a train wreck or a glorious time, it was great to see the family and such, to see little ones running around, a couple of dogs, the chaos of a full house, football on for the men folk to gather round, but something set off my allergies, to the extent I have not endured for some time, full on can not breathe both my nose and lungs, not a fun time, had to step outside even, I must have seemed like a curmudgeon or just stand offish but I was just miserable, not even able to enjoy the food (and I love turkey, I know many don’t but I certainly do), I even had rashes on my arms, well, the one good thing? I was not working and don’t mind a day off even perhaps suffering a bit. I try to remember people always have it worse off so complaining in the moment or not gutting through it was not an option for me. I tried to focus on the joy of others around me, and sure enough that was enough.
So here comes Monday, my commute was not bad, I missed being stuck behind school bus routes (bonus), no place to really park at the office (unusual) so I had to hike a couple of blocks, luckily I had the time, although it did cross my mind that things started to seem to stack against me… I tried to ignore this and just focus on the task at hand, letting the stress not get out of said hand, of course two of our administrative staff (that handle the phones) called out today (sweet), and I was the first one at the office (even better), I think too much of our environment is not meant for our mental health or designed with that in mind at all… not a shocking revelation, I know, but whatever personal space we have can be arranged to assuage this obvious design flaw, be it a plant, a poster, a photo, something, not a block, or a book, or a wall plastered with post its, something like a window, or a window into a moment past, a place, a being, a portal to transport you to another land – if only for an instant… this can be most anything, but the important idea is to make it something, to have it available, like a mental stress ball, to flex your mind fingers and all when the world begins to swirl, as it will, as it must, I wish I could say I have perfected this art, this thought, this meditation, of sorts, but I have not for I surely would have patented such a thing, bottled such a thing, packaged such a thing for 4 easy payments of $19.95 and sell it online, or late night on TV, or through QVC before the world was done with me… so I struggle to find that talisman, that perfection, or maybe that is the problem, perhaps Monday requires one distraction and Tuesday is a different beast to tame, let the solution vary, but seek that solution daily, for me, sometimes it is just looking out the windows and seeing clouds, other times it is getting outside that window to see them for myself, or perhaps just finding a quiet place, a park, a pond, a path, for even moments past, eyes closed, imagining the origin of every sound around, a deep breath, or back in the office, turn on the sound of the ocean if you can, or the trinket from a vacation up on the shelf and recall, take a step outward, inward, to the side, but take that step, the wheel will grind regardless, best you take care of yourself for at least a moment.