WORK | Half Way into a Year of Flow
When June arrives, it always has a way of shocking me.
“June? Already?” I think like clockwork every June 1st.
With just under six months of putting the concept of ‘Flow’ at work in both the personal and professional I have had a few revelations, some struggles and some meditative thoughts sprinkled in.
Flow has eased into my thinking
and attempted at reminding my busy mind to let what is happening ‘happen’. It has also challenged me to tune in to the chaos and distractions that abide and find new ways to navigate through them.
There will always be a family crisis, a pressing social engagement, a work deadline, a chore, a medical / personal appointment, etc to tend to.
There is also S P A C E to flow through these things, if we but let it.
Part of it, is giving ourselves permission not to be rushed by our own expectations and those of others.
I see it in how we are approaching Summer this year.
Summer’s are usually stuffed with people ‘coming back home’ for visits, special events, road trips, and networking events.
Despite the pandemic, this year looks very much the same as most.
‘Back home visits’, special events, road trips and networking events...you name it.
Depending on who you are in the work you do, depends on the amount of days in a summer you can take off.
For an Electrical Engineer who specializes in oceanography equipment and a writer / producer in the film and television industries…our prime output times are in the warmer months of the year.
Ya’ll, there are only eight weekends in summer the ‘official summer break’ calendar, yet we act like it’s a four month occasion with no work deadlines, medical appointments, home projects mixed in.
That’s about sixteen days to attend to all of those needs without taking time off work.
That could seem like a lot, but in reality.. it goes by like a flash.
But this year…
Although we are honouring the special events of our own, the need to refresh our souls by the ocean and re-connect with our peers after almost 2 years of constant distance, we are letting ‘flow’ rule our calendar.
Setting down the plan book, the dates, the constant need to fit in ‘just one more visit’, and seeing what happens in the beauty of one day and one week at a time.
Having the the space enough to ask ourselves, ‘what do we need this weekend? How can we show up for what we have to do, what we need to do and also what we can do?
Although we may not always be able to have the weekend / summer schedule that we would wish, letting our personal family unit’s flow dictate the schedule and not the surrounding pressure of ‘summertime’ madness is one way we are learning from embracing what it means to honour momentum of now.