a little something to think about - Issue #22
Dear you,
You may have noticed you have not received emails from me in the last three weeks. It was necessary for that happen, but there's more to it. I had been super productive since January, running on turbo. I promised myself that this year, will not be like last year, I promised myself that I would take care of my body and mind a little more. So guess what? When I noticed that I was literally "pushing myself" to start on a daily basis in May, making crazy mistakes and just falling back to bad patterns, I knew that burnout wasn't too far away. I was fast approaching burnout and I needed to take a break as quickly as I could.
But...
I was too late.
Two days after I took the break, I fell ill. Apparently, I did not outrun the burnout. It caught up with me. I spent a good chunk of my holiday being ill, taking drugs and nursing myself back to health. But I remembered a conversation I had with the amazing Ben Lyon, founder of Stax. He said something along these lines:
"You need to take stock of your activities and ask yourself what is giving me energy and what is draining my energy?"
I really gave myself time to think about this. I spend my time on different types of activities daily, but I had never really paid attention to whether or not I feel re-energized or drained after a specific activity. Why is that I could talk to someone for an hour and have the best time of my life and talk to someone else and feel like virtue has left me? Was there a way to mix and match activities in a way to balance my energy? Is it possible to have a balanced day 8 hours for work, 8 hours for enjoyment, and 8 hours for rest? Is it realistic? Can I build a lifestyle where I vacation everyday, instead of delaying my gratification for a specific moment? Can I have short burst of vacations and just be disciplined with my relaxation as I am with my work?
Here's what I know for sure
I did not come to earth to work until I die or to be chased by deadlines. A world exists where we can truly work and play and I am determined to build that life for myself. I owe you three letters, so I will send two letters every week until I make up for it.
I have found that I am more productive when I am not forcing my brain to think. I have learned so much in the last two weeks. I had the most thrilling experience watching a theatre show - The Phantom of the Opera. It was so creative I cried. People are truly talented. Apparently, this experience also inspired bae to write his newsletter today. Read it here. I visited some of the Bridgerton sets, and had a moment where I thought to myself - I should totally intern on a big-budget set, once in my lifetime, just to watch these things done in realtime. I learned about architecture, buildings, people, nature, the minds of thinkers, how things are made. I even got to hear about the life of Jane Austen and just immerse myself in the life of someone else. I met some really interesting people and experimented with a lot of food. It was thrilling.
I also realized that in all, relationships are golden. They are the biggest currencies of life and best assets in life. Invest in them.
Anyway,
I intend to live and laugh as hard as I work. I hope you do too.
Life is short. Rest is productive. Build it into your lifestyle.
With love,
Blessing Abeng.