If you've been reading the last couple Pulses (505, 506), you know that Angela and I left to work and live in the woods for an indefinite amount of time this summer.
By the time you're reading this, we'll be breaking camp and going back home. Leaving so soon wasn't in our plans, but staying longer wasn't either.
This week, the “indefinite” part of our summer outings struck. We stay out as long as we're feeling good, the weather's nice enough, and we're enjoying it.
With all-day cold and rain in the forecast and Oregon's mercurial June weather, we're choosing to head home. Today marks two weeks since we went out, and we know we won't enjoy cold and rainy weather at this point. Angela has a handful of medical appointments and I have an in-person strategy session Friday.
We'll probably be out in the woods again a few days after my in-person session, assuming the weather looks like it's going to be in an enjoyable zone and we feel like being in the woods again.
Could we stay out until the day before I need to be in town? Sure. But when the whole point is to be out having fun and rejuvenating, we would be muddy, cold, and frustrated for no reason. We're past the days where we enjoy overcoming needlessly hard stuff.
Another example: we've already missed a few great riding days because I was tired or in body pain from business travel. Riding while tired and in pain is neither safe nor enjoyable.
Similarly, we went to Bend over the weekend to get some gear and intended to go on a hike near downtown. The starting point for our hike was near some protests happening and it was going to be a pain to navigate the crowd. The “fun” idea of hiking turned into swimming through too many people when we'd been in the woods for ten days already. Instead of forcing it, we chose to nope! it and had a more chill evening at camp.
Consider this a reminder to assess your “fun”/”relaxing” activities and get real about whether or not it's time to stop doing them because they're neither fun nor relaxing. They could be personal, professional, or a 🤷🏽 mix like what we're doing. Or perhaps you don't need to nope! the whole thing, but instead remove some parts that change the juice:squeeze ratio so that you get more of whatever you wanted out of the activity.
And, if you're still at the point where it does something for you to overcome whatever analogous challenges the cold, rain, and questioning of your life choices are for us, have at it. 🙂
~Charlie
Consider your own “fun and relaxing” activities: are there any you no longer find fun nor relaxing, that either you can stop doing altogether or change to something you would find more generative?
We'd love to hear what's coming up for you.
Sabbaticals and Slowbaticals (Episode 241)
Core Conversations on Start Finishing: 3 Helpful Ways to Maximize Your Recovery Blocks
Create, Connect, & Consume: Balance Each to Get Your Best Work Done
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Check out some highlights from this month's call: Turning Disruption into Strategic Insight
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Plan to join us for the July and August sessions, where we'll cover:
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Mark your calendars for the next LSS: July 9, 11am PDT
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The recording from yesterday's MMC will be out next week.
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Mark your calendars for the next MMC: July 16, 11am PDT
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