Chatty Brain is back, with a difference

Hello Dear Reader, how are you doing? Usually I'm so wrapped up in what I want to tell you that I forget that you are taking your valuable time to read my blog! I want you to know that I appreciate each and every person who reads this :)

I am making the time to ask after you and tell you that I appreciate you, because CB has been a bit more active this week. It's made me concious that I'm back in "fix it" mode which means focusing on the problem rather than the person.

Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing. I have a few good friends who I can send streams of messages to regarding a problem and how to fix it, before suddenly remembering I haven't actually said "Hi", which then comes in message number four! I know this doesn't bother them because they do the exact same thing to me and we've talked about how great it is that we have this kind of friendship. Turns out it's one of the main reasons why we're friends!

"Fix it" mode does become a problem when you entirely forget that there is a person on the other end and you don't acknowledge them at all. This is often seen in work environments when a project has a load of deliverables and tight deadlines. Delivery of something leads to "where's the next thing?" as opposed to "thank you for completing that". This then snowballs into more and more work, with less and less thanks, building resentment and stress and potentially leading to burnout. Not a good place to go, so it is always good to be mindful and catch yourself if you see things starting to head in that direction.

Now, CB has been jumping up this week because new job has gone from 0 - 1000 mph in the space of a weekend. Friday last week I had read everything I could get my hands on, done all the training it was possible to do and I'd completely run out of things to do while waiting for the project team to get back from the customer visits. This week, I was told on Tuesday afternoon that I had until Friday to write a report based on someone else's notes and plan in 5 weeks worth of workshops for a client, also based from someone else's notes, starting on Tuesday next week... Hello Superwoman! It's been a while! Tight deadlines galore and too much to do, of course you've popped up...

Except, she also went away again very quickly after the initial "right... how do we do this".  I got a plan together, there was a whole load of issues outside of my control with the workshops (namely, the client couldn't decide who should be in them so we couldn't invite anyone), so I spent time going through what I knew, made a plan for which workshops would have what in them and got on with the report. Eventually, once we knew who to invite, the workshop invitations went out, sorted! Then, when I was about 85% done with the report the deadline was delayed because someone was ill, result!

At that point, I realised I hadn't been overdoing it at all, instead I'd found a nice flow state where I could keep everything going, without destroying my energy levels. I kept talking to my wonderful partner about how I "weirdly don't feel stressed!"

And yet, CB has still been talking. Except this time, she's not remotely interested in chatting about work. She wants to chat about the future, and fun things like visiting my sister in New Zealand, or maybe finally getting round to the home improvements we've been talking about for 18 months etc. We've saved the money to do it, so why not plan it and get it going!

"So what is the point of all this?" I hear you say Dear Reader. Well the point is, listen. Listen to what your body and mind are trying to tell you. If your version of CB is nagging you about work, go deeper, figure out what they are really talking about. If they are talking about finances, or relationships or personal development, go deeper, listen, figure out what is going on.

By paying attention and listening to our mind and body, we take care of ourselves. By taking the time to focus on ourselves, we can look after ourselves properly and then be a better version of ourselves and look after other people.

In short, right now I'm feeling good, my energy levels are decent and I'm feeling well resourced. I am very concious that I'm exceptionally fortunate to be in this position as a lot of people are not. I have got to this point by listening to myself, working on my own development, and mostly by being kind and understanding towards my own wellbeing.

If you would like to do the same, start by really listening to yourself. If you don't know how to do that, please reach out, I'd be happy to see what I can do to help. I mentioned my coaching course a few posts ago. We're getting to the point now where I'm looking for people to start proper coaching sessions with. If this sounds like something you or someone you know would be interested in knowing more about, please do get in touch. Subscribe to the blog, get others to subscribe if you think they'd like this content, post a comment, anything. If you reach out to me, I will reach out to you!

Until next time Dear Reader, have a great week!