Western Red Cedar's Journal

Where are you and where are you going?
Scott 2
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Scott 2 »

Are you re-integrating alcohol after the dry period? If so, how are you approaching it?

After taking some weeks off of drinking, I find myself especially conscious of the time required. More so since I tend to combine it with a bigger or heavier meal. Doing that multiple times per week carries a significant opportunity cost. 2 drinks will define the course of 4-6 hours, as well as leaving me slower the following day.


Bowman doubles down on the movement ecology topic in her latest book - Grow Wild. She's clearly adopted it as the next step in her career trajectory. From a practical perspective, after Whole Body Barefoot, I found Move Your DNA most applicable to my day to day life.

As I'm explore endurance training more, I wonder if Bowman appreciates what she is asking of someone, who is largely sedentary. She's approached the problem with a tremendous physical capacity, far greater than someone who is chained to a desk 40+ hours per week. That person is far from having capacity to resolve ten thousand out sourcings. Their fitness is well tuned to their lifestyle, which requires extensive time seated behind the desk.

I now find myself at the middle space between those worlds. I didn't appreciate the massive amount of movement a highly fit person can absorb. Energy required to clean the house is irrelevant for such a person. A desk jockey needs to plan for it. I'm also finding my tolerance for sitting still has dropped, as my physical capacity increases. It makes the prospect of being stuck behind the desk all day increasingly miserable.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

I've drank a few times since taking a month off. Mostly while on vacation with my old friends. I basically just observed how it made me feel the evening of, along with the next couple days. I probably should have been more thoughtful about reintegration. My DW doesn't drink, so it should be relatively easy to limit drinking to social outings or special occassions. I think I intuitively knew I was using it as a bit of a crutch to deal with stress or not be present, but reading through Mate's book made that fairly obvious. It also made me think about other habits such as reading current events/news, watching movies/tv shows, or even spending time on this site - which serve as distractions or escapes.

One of the nice things about working from home is that I can just get up and move whenever I need to. I'm still behind a computer, but I can do a quick set of squats or move around my apartment more easily than when I'm in an office. I'm trying to adopt a James Clear, "1% better" approach to health and movement. Making small changes or continue with healthy habits every day. One I didn't mention was limiting my time on the couch, and just sitting on the floor. This naturally leads to more stretching while we are watching a movie or hanging out. DW is also open to getting rid of our old couch, and just getting some cushions or a minimalist, furniture-free setup. All of this is influenced by Bowman's philosophy on movement.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Great photos as usual. I look forward to hearing more about this new job.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

@mF - I interviewed last week. I think I'm the only internal candidate and should have a pretty good shot. They are open to letting me rewrite the position description and prioritize projects and focus areas based on my interests. It is likely more work for a relatively small bump in pay - around 4k per year. But, it will give me a chance to work on new things, build new skills, and potentially affect change on a larger scale than I can in my current role. I think the new position would also make it easier to find other work, or to return to my field if I'm not stimulated enough in early retirement. I may only have another year or two until we hit our number, and I like the idea of finishing strong professionally.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

DW's most recent watercolor painting seemed to fit with the theme of this journal.

Image

MBBboy
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by MBBboy »

Good luck with the new job. Even though it's only a small pay increase, there's a lot to be said for changing up the day to day. Especially in a company where you're already familiar with how things work, rather than changing your day to day AND learning a new landscape

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

I was offered the job and accepted. They gave me the highest possible pay range for the position and are open to crafting the roles and responsibilities around my interests. In fact, my new supervisor said he'd really like me to work on projects and areas that I'm passionate about as that will be better for me professionally, as well as our team and agency. It is a low-risk move in that I know the subject matter and team well, but it allows me to pivot to new areas that may open up other doors down the road. It is one of the few promotional opportunities that doesn't require managing people, so I thought I should pursue it.

I'll give a tip of the hat to the AxelHeyst Mastermind group here. There wasn't any specific discussion about this opportunity before I decided to apply, but it has been great to be around a diverse group of motivated, intelligent, and interesting people - who are outside of my traditional social and professional circles. Some of my reading and research as part of my MM project on health helped me realize this is the right move. Kelly McGonigal's book The Upside of Stress reminded me that these types of experiences are opportunities for personal growth. I had an option to glide to FI in my old position, but I suspect I'll feel better about myself whenever I decide to walk away from traditional work knowing that I continued challenging myself.

@MBBboy - thanks for the kind words!

guitarplayer
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by guitarplayer »

Hi @WRC, I have finally made it to read your journal. Thank you so much for sharing! Below are some thoughts.

general
0.1 It reads like a book. Admirable skill to put thoughts in words, I wish I had more of that.
0.2 I think I might sprint read my journal the way I read yours now, a good exercise to get an overall picture of life trajectory.

p.3
3.1 Overthinking is my feat too, but I fail to verbalize so neatly because I have more P than T, I think. This changes with tea or coffee.
3.2 This is valuable to me that you mention extensive travel being exhausting. I would occasionally go on a daydreaming session imagining never ending traveling with DW that will be the ultimate nirvana, but of course it wouldn't be. Also I actually also have experiences travel fatigue in the past, just that the experiential memory fades.

p.4
4.1 Perhaps your journal to my journey is what 2B1S's journal was/is in some shape or form to your journey.
4.2 The morels!

p.5
5.1 I have the same reflection about pinging between dopamine hits, I wonder it there is any trivial way to get out of it and come to a conclusion that perhaps there isn't. If some dopamine hits are limited or cut, the remaining ones seem to magnify in a fractal way. Or this seems to be my experience. But you had much more of a good discussion stemming from this down p.5!

p.6 (or 7?)
6.1 If you are still into bread making, Jim Lahey's no knead method worked well for me, my bread was also very popular in the neighbourhood.

p.9

9.1 you write about how you'd chat with your dad about the cabin. Perhaps, if you haven't already, it would be worthwhile chatting with your dad about his life trajectory post work and try to draw conclusions re what can this mean to you and your path. Only mentioning it because my dad is going to retire this year and I have a plan of keeping in touch with him regularly about his transition, the idea being that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I am not talking necessarily of particular activities, but more a change in mindset etc.

p.10

10.1
Western Red Cedar wrote:
Thu May 06, 2021 9:30 pm

[...]

Let My People Go Surfing - The Education of a Reluctant Businessman:

“I have a different definition of evil from most people. Evil doesn’t have to be an overt act; it can be merely the absence of good. If you have the ability, the resources, and the opportunity to do good and you do nothing, that can be evil.”
Hannah Arendt wrote:Evil comes from a failure to think. It defies thought for as soon as thought tries to engage itself with evil and examine the premises and principles from which it originates, it is frustrated because it finds nothing there. That is the banality of evil.
p.11

11.1 thank you for the trip report. I initially skipped it but then went to get myself a cup of tea and read through it. DW and I do quite some hiking, but not recently. We need to go for a hike now that it is getting warmer. Is there (lots of) bog in PNW? I think in later pages you write about hiking in Scotland, lots and lots of bog here most of the year, this website even has a 'bog factor' as one of the features of each walk.
11.2 on the Margaret Mead's quote, I am rather more pessimistic in that I think the chance of a small group of committed citizens changing the world for the better is rather slim! would be more than enough to stop the world changing so rapidly all together (then you can climb meta and say that stopping the change is a change for the better). I do however have a strong feeling that life will prevail, as it has until now.

p.13

13.1 I love 2B1S analogy of making money as riding a bike. I think @Jacob wrote somewhere about tacking small-slow-simple problems as good problems to tackle (as in, solvable and translating other problems to these problems if doable), I had it on my whiteboard for quite a while.

p.14

14.1 Glad the foraging log served as an inspiration, and jealous for all the chicken of the woods!

p.18

18.1 FYI the jeans experiment works with merino wool jumpers too.
18.2 This website is your go-to place for hiking Scotland.

p.19
19.1 I think with your temperament, it is excellent that you have found a professional advancement opportunity that does not involve managing people.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Looks like you have reached FIRE, in my eyes at least. You seem to be focusing on other aspects of life and money is tap water lest your whole approach to life changes dramatically which is not likely.

Good luck with the new role!
Last edited by guitarplayer on Tue May 03, 2022 3:29 pm, edited 6 times in total.

2Birds1Stone
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

Congrats on the new role! Sounds like an excellent step towards freedom.

Will this new position make it harder to walk away from your career?

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

guitarplayer wrote:
Tue May 03, 2022 9:10 am
Hi @WRC, I have finally made it to read your journal. Thank you so much for sharing! Below are some thoughts.
It looks like you had a busy day yesterday @guitarplayer. Thanks for your thoughts and feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed the journal. You prompted me to go back and revisit multiple ideas and pages I haven't thought about for some time. A few random responses based on your comments:

That was the best season of Morels I ever had. I've heard that they are popping right now so I'm going to try to get out in the next few days to do a search. I'm still making bread, but have kept the sourdough starter in the fridge the last couple months as I'm trying to drop some extra weight.

I talk to my parents at least a few times per week, often for the full hour on my lunch break as I'm taking a long walk. My dad actually delayed retirement much longer than he needed to because he got a lot of purpose out of working. He opted to retire early during the pandemic as he wasn't comfortable going back into a hospital setting. He's been extremely busy over the last couple years and extremely active. Working on projects at the shire is a great outlet for him. Your comment was a reminder that I'm the type of person that will need some kind or project to feel fulfilled. I think I'm open to a lot of different opportunities, but it needs to be bigger than a collection of hobbies.

It is interesting you quoted Arendt. I don't recall if I mentioned it on the forums, but Arendt's writing in the Banality of Evil reminds me of the current relationship to the climate crisis. I focused pretty heavily on her book, The Human Condition, for one of my final papers in College.

Thanks for the link to the page on hiking Scotland! I'll be sure to use it as a resource if/when I approach that adventure.

I'm not sure I've reached FIRE by the traditional 25X expenses calculation, but I've definitely approached a point where finances are more or less a solved problem. I'm spending more time focusing on other issues like health and relationships. With some creative lifestyle adjustments that align with ERE DW and I are pretty close.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Tue May 03, 2022 9:47 am
Will this new position make it harder to walk away from your career?
Thanks @2B1S! I don't think it will make it harder to walk away. At least not from my current job. The magnet of vagabonding, cultural exploration, and the self-discovery that often goes hand-in-hand with long-term travel is too strong right now. Part of my rationale for taking the role is to maximize pay while minimizing disruptions in the last year or two of work. Although, another reason for taking the position is that it opens up other possibilities down the road. Initially I thought it may make it more challenging to take a sabbatical as I'm stepping into a new role, but I don't think that is necessarily true. I will probably become more valuable to my employer.

It probably makes it harder to pursue the SemiERE route, but DW and I already decided we wanted to stay put for at least another year so she can continue with EMDR and working with her therapist.

I've been somewhat successful lately limiting detailed planning more than 3-6 months in the future. Trying to be more focused on the present and more grateful for current circumstances. I still enjoy dreaming big, but I think it is healthier for me to spend less time dwelling on those thoughts and more time making my life great each day, week, or month.

A lot of features of my work and career fit into my web of goals. So, it is feasible that I return to traditional work at some point when I'm ready to establish or reestablish roots. I could envision a return to the career at some point aligning well with a rural homestead or permaculture lifestyle. Returning to traditional work also gives DW and I an opportunity to live in HCOL locations while focusing on the ecological and environmental nodes in my WOG. I've previously looked at professional opportunities in Hawaii, Australia, Germany, and the UK. It could mesh really well with our desire to live internationally, in a way that allows us to integrate more deeply with local communities, which reflects a higher WL approach to long-term travel.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

Scott 2 wrote:
Sat Apr 16, 2022 2:26 pm
Bowman doubles down on the movement ecology topic in her latest book - Grow Wild. She's clearly adopted it as the next step in her career trajectory. From a practical perspective, after Whole Body Barefoot, I found Move Your DNA most applicable to my day to day life.

As I'm explore endurance training more, I wonder if Bowman appreciates what she is asking of someone, who is largely sedentary. She's approached the problem with a tremendous physical capacity, far greater than someone who is chained to a desk 40+ hours per week. That person is far from having capacity to resolve ten thousand out sourcings. Their fitness is well tuned to their lifestyle, which requires extensive time seated behind the desk.

I now find myself at the middle space between those worlds. I didn't appreciate the massive amount of movement a highly fit person can absorb. Energy required to clean the house is irrelevant for such a person. A desk jockey needs to plan for it. I'm also finding my tolerance for sitting still has dropped, as my physical capacity increases. It makes the prospect of being stuck behind the desk all day increasingly miserable.
@Scott2 - I remembered a podcast with Bowman where she described her books as somewhat of a progression from a focus on a relatively immobile audience to someone who is very fit, active, and balanced. I think she said Simple Steps to Foot Pain Relief was the most basic (which makes sense after reading that) as it assumes the reader has trouble walking or standing for more than a few minutes. It introduces some very simple stretches and encourages the audience to reevaluate how they stand and walk.

I am currently only reading a few of her short essays every week. She definitely seems aware that much of the Western world is sedentary, inactive and designs their life to limit movement. I suspect you've just gravitated to her more advanced ideas.

Do you think the energy levels you described are primarily the result of physical activity/inactivity, or do you think the mental baggage of desk work has a significant impact on energy levels as well? How much of a factor do you think age plays into energy levels and recovery?

Scott 2
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Scott 2 »

Good to know about Simple Steps. I'd been considering that one, but wasn't sure, having already read whole body barefoot. I read what was freely available via my library, as audiobooks. I skimmed the blog compilation, but her emphasis on women's health didn't hold my attention.


The mental baggage of work definitely factors into my changed energy levels.

On top of the work itself, I'd spend hours of every day frustrated. Constant interruptions. My job required staying up most of the night 1-2x per month. Stress made it hard to sleep. My food was often garbage. I'd self medicate with alcohol and sugar. Sitting in front of the computer or video games is all I wanted or had energy to do. So it didn't feel like there was a substantial opportunity cost. I'd literally say "work is fine, I'd be sitting in front of a different computer anyways, might as well get paid." The job was a poor fit, and I should have made changes well before I did.

However, I resolved most of those problems in the first few months after working. While that did reduce my apathy induced desk time, it did not substantially raise my work capacity. That shift primarily made me feel great while sitting in front of video games instead of work. I'd still move slowly and deliberately, even when doing things like lifting.

Over the next year, I raised my v02 max by a little over 50%, while focusing on movement quality. That's brought a different change. I get restless if I don't drain the battery. My cost of movement is lower, and I have less joint point associated with it. So work required to drain that battery is much higher. I am absorbing 10h+ of intentional movement per week, but still doing less sitting than 3 months into retirement. The last 100h+ video game month was a long time ago. A multi-hour Zoom call feels like torture. More so.

The best qualities I have to trade on, are sold sitting in front of a computer. It's definitely something I wonder about. How to reconcile the two.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

@Scott2 - I don't think you need to bother with Simple Steps. She presents the same message in Whole Body Barefoot, but with more depth. I probably should have started with the latter, but as I've been dealing with chronic foot pain for years I thought I'd start with the basics.
Scott 2 wrote:
Fri May 06, 2022 9:29 am
The mental baggage of work definitely factors into my changed energy levels.
This seems to turn into a vicious cycle. I've found that getting out, being active, and spending time in nature provide an energy boost. But it's difficult to do that when you are already physically/emotionally exhausted. It is amazing how much progress one can make with regular sleep and a healthy diet that works for your body.

The primary reason I've decided to focus on health for my first two mastermind projects is that I think it will yield more significant results than any additional financial focus at this point in my FI journey. Although I was initially interested in physical health, I've spent at least as much time focusing on mental health, psychology and its relationship to physical health. Ironically, all of this seems to make my professional life better as well.

Western Red Cedar
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Western Red Cedar »

May Update

Financial:

Net Worth - $423,529 (decrease $27,594). It was another volatile month in the market. This was close to the largest decrease we've had in our FI journey. I keep a close eye on the markets every day via a stocks app on my phone, but I don't find myself reacting to any of the large drops. I will admit that it doesn't feel great when DW and I do a monthly check-in to see five figure drops in net worth each month, but I suppose that is to be expected as one's net worth grows.

I'm planning on investing in I-bonds in the near future. I prefer limiting the number of accounts I have open, but the current rates are really appealing. I-bonds make a lot of sense for our current position and future plans.

Our spending was quite high this month. I felt a bit like a boglehead. We spent freely on our vacation in Seattle. I bought airline tickets for a three week trip to Mexico this summer. And I spent a lot of money on concert tickets, though a couple of the shows we counted as birthday gifts. DW and I saw Paul McCartney which was pretty amazing. I basically grew up on the Beatles and have been a big fan for 30+ years. He played a three hour set and a lot of Beatles songs. I also picked up tickets for my dad and I to see Bob Dylan next month. My dad said he hasn't seen him since the 70's at Wembley.

We also had another car repair, which is becoming annoying at this point after many years without any problems. Our brake hose split and we were leaking fluid. Car repair is definitely a weak point in my skill set, though I was able to diagnose the problem. I briefly posed the notion to DW of getting some kind of new/used vehicle. It doesn't really make much sense for us considering we want to travel in the next year or so. When I looked at realistic price points based on where the car market is at the moment, we ruled it out. Fortunately we are in a situation where DW can take the bus to work, and I work from home. We can take care of almost all of our needs via bus, bike, or foot. I do like to have a car to get into the mountains, or to do some regional trips to see family.

One of the benefits of this experience was that I finally started riding my bike to the gym. It is only a few miles away, but in a very auto-oriented location. Part of the ride is quite unpleasant and next to heavy traffic, but I've done the trip a half dozen times at this point. I can take a two mile detour for a much more pleasant ride as well. It offers a nice warm-up and a little extra cardio to accompany my lifting sessions. I also took the bike to the doctors office, and about 10 miles to and from the car repair shop. Something clicked after riding to the gym my first time and I realized that I'd been relying on past habits in terms of travel. Who cares if I show up sweaty and out of breath at a doctor or work appointment. I actually feel proud about it at this point.

Physical Health:

I lost 2.7 pounds this month. I'm down 6.7 pounds in the last two months, and at the lowest weight since I started recorded monthly measurements at the end of November. I lost a half inch off my waist, but haven't seen changes in my other measurements. I wasn't quite as focused on diet and nutrition last month as we were on vacation and hanging out with friends more. Nonetheless, I'm pretty strict with the diet through the work week and have been consistent with my lifting routine. I've settled into four days per week, rotating between a push and pull session. I haven't lifted legs much lately as I'm riding my bike a lot more. I'm not quite as focused on fasting windows, and I've started eating a small meal before a lifting session or bike ride to maximize energy during workouts and muscle growth. I never really had a problem exercising in a fasted state, but I don't want to undermine efforts to build lean muscle. I'm lifting heavier weight, but also trying to focus on form and mind-muscle connection. When I'm not lifting, I often do a 10-20 mile bike ride (depending on whether it is a work day or not), or take a long walk. Nice weather definitely encourages me to be more active. I'd like to drop another 5-10 pounds by the end of the summer, but I'm not too fixated on a particular number.


Professional:

The big news here is the new position I've mentioned upthread. I'm wrapping up some of my smaller projects and will be carrying my big project with me. Working from home is great and I look forward to continue with this setup for awhile. My current team seems a little sad to see me go, but are happy for me. I set up a meeting with my new supervisor last week and we spent an extra 30 minutes geeking out about productivity systems and management philosophy. He's relatively new to a management role, so I was telling him about Makers vs. Managers theory, Cal Newport & Deep Work, and James Clear. He was really excited and appreciative for all the ideas and resources I was mentioning.

I'm stressing less about deadlines lately, which seems to help with work-related stress a lot. I think a lot of my problems that I've vented about here were self-imposed. Too much perfectionism and self-criticism. I'm taking more time lately to help some of our new staff work on their projects, which doesn't take much effort for me but is really well-received. I'm also continuing with a mentorship program and the graduate student I'm working with is doing some really interesting analysis for his thesis. We had a chance to dive into it this week and our 45 minute meeting lasted 90 instead. I just introduced him to regenerative agriculture so we'll explore that later this month.


Other Activities:

DW and I are going to head up to my parent's cabin this evening. My folks will probably join us tomorrow and I can make a mother's day breakfast for my mom on Sunday. I haven't been up there since November. I think the Morels should be out based on the rain and sun we've had lately, so I'm hoping to spend a few hours this evening on the hunt before it gets dark. I wanted to get out for an early season backpacking trip this weekend, but there is a huge storm system across the state and everywhere seems to be expecting heavy rains. Probably snow in the mountains. But, a cabin in the rain sounds pretty pleasant. I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off and looking forward to a long weekend.

I finally pulled the trigger on Mexico tickets. Initially we were looking at Zihuatanejo and Guadalajara, with a possible stop in Morelia. I know that DW loves beaches so I surprised her by suggesting the Yucatan instead. The rough plan is a week in Playa Del Carmen, then on to Tulum, then to Cozumel, and back to Playa before returning to the US. Travel by bus between all of these locations is much easier than the routes we were looking at on the Pacific Coast. I booked a stopover for four nights in Seattle as well so we can see some friends and family at the end of the trip.

I was kind of "saving" the Yucatan as a first stop on our slow travels in SemiERE or FIRE. I realized this was a bit silly, and we should just check it out now. The itinerary is definitely more of the kind of vacation DW wants, and it will give us an opportunity to see how we might feel staying in these kind of locations for multiple weeks.

We are also looking forward to some other adventures and time off over the summer. Our schedule seems to be quickly filling up with potential camping trips, visits to friends' lake cabins, and other shenanigans.
Last edited by Western Red Cedar on Sat May 07, 2022 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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mountainFrugal
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by mountainFrugal »

Lot's of good updates here. Congrats on the job and making a position that is more aligned with where you want to be headed. Have a great time at the cabin and post a picture or two of the rainy scenes.

Scott 2
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Scott 2 »

Western Red Cedar wrote:
Fri May 06, 2022 10:54 am
I've spent at least as much time focusing on mental health, psychology and its relationship to physical health. Ironically, all of this seems to make my professional life better as well.
I believe it. Far moved from my last job, I see many mistakes.

- Setting unreasonable expectations for myself and the organization.
- Expecting others to behave in alignment with my values, instead of their own demonstrated values.
- Failing to provide the physical closure required for mental stressors.
- Waiting too long to ask for support.
- Refusing to fail, when I did ask for support and it wasn't provided.
- Forcing myself to work on products I no longer believed in
- Not factoring in external stressors (pandemic) when assuming work commitments

I could keep going. Much of my past year consisted of mentally unpacking work, developing a healthier perspective on life. With these better tools, I might happily tolerate the same environment that left me in misery. My approach to work was a big part of the problem.

MBBboy
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by MBBboy »

Great update all around! Enjoy the cabin and trip to Mexico. DW has been trying to get us to vacation there for as long as we've been together, and I've always refused. Perhaps a glowing report from you will make me reconsider!

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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by Frugalchicos »

Great update and congrats on your new job! Also, the mexico trip and the concerts you mentioned upthread sound amazing. Part of the ERE process in my case is also learning that is ok and healthy to spend some money in things or experiences you want.

@Scott - really liked your comment. All very good points

guitarplayer
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Re: Western Red Cedar's Journal

Post by guitarplayer »

@WRC I look forward to the updates on morels!

@Scott2 this was a good post; could you give a quick example of ‘physical closure required for mental stressors’?

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