Perfect day

I hit a major roadblock yesterday. No particular reason, I guess, apart from a lack of clarity of where people were at and what a workable process would be to get to a conclusion. I was completely exhausted and in tears at the end of the conference call. Bugger.

When I arrived in the office this morning, I wasn’t quite ready yet and needed more time to understand where I was at and what was bothering me. A quick check of the agenda and a phone call with my boss, and – tada – there was a day of leave.

It’s funny to have an unplanned day off: There’s some time to spend, but not too much and most of it alone. What do you do?

As my main goal was to re-energize and to re-connect, there was no point in spending much time intellectualizing about what was going on, but rather give my body and mind the space to do their work unconsciously. Here’s how I regained my centre:

When I came home, I cried some more, then leafed the first couple of pages of Difficult Conversations for a while. But as there’s nothing better for general well-being, mood and energy levels as fresh air, sun and some exercise, my next step clearly had to be the Bois de la Cambre. Plenty of oxygen in my brain afterwards, and delight over the greens and the trees out there. On the way back, a stop Mama Roma for the best pizza in the world, eating slowly, drinking lots of water. Picked up some Moelleux au Chocolat from C’est pas raisonnable for later, then home, hitting the shower.

By that time I had arranged a phone call with my boss in the afternoon, and boy, did I enjoy the nap until the phone rang. And what a difference the few hours made since we spoke in the morning: I wasn’t stuck and terrified anymore, and could actually listen and share my perceptions.

Anything afterwards was a piece of chocolate cake (see above). Taking an hour to listen to Shinzen Young. Drafting a blogpost. Leading a conference call. Welcoming the BF from work, and feeding him chili. And oh-so-good to top things off: a really sweet birthday party for a good friend who has lots of nice friends to have great conversations with.

In short: Time out can be incredibly rewarding. And sometimes ‘hitting the wall’ gives you a chance to actually do something with it.