Circus Anyone......

I wear many hats during the course of any one day, we all do, but lately I think that sometimes I have been forgetting to take off the previous hat when I put on the new one, and I am beginning to just look silly....

Of course I like to think that I have mastered the art of multitasking. It seems essential in the world we live in today to be able to juggle the endless barrage of media that comes at you from every angle: constant incoming calls, emails, text messages, meetings, tele-conferences all seemingly begging for our immediate attention regardless of what is currently underway. Multitasking has become simply a prerequisite of most industries.

Usually I fight my overwhelmed feelings and bolster my ability to multitask by making a "to do" list throughout the day, only listing 5 small things at a time. After I completed five small tasks then I’d list 5 more. I think multitasking is ineffective if one is already overloaded. To me...what good is multitasking if it leaves me with lots of things only partially done so this 5 small things method seemed to work…

But lately, my abilities to keep my hats straight has been slipping...this afternoon was a prime example: By 2:00 I had not even thought of taking a lunch, but my headache was urging me in that direction - So I started some spreadsheets printing and went off to the lunchroom to put my lean cuisine in the microwave, then come back to see if the printing job had finished while getting a phone call that required me to retrieve some information from my lap top. This is how it all ended up: I had the information on my laptop and was verifying it with my colleague on the phone...while at the same time reading my e-mails and watching the attached you-tubes on my desk computer and answering a co-workers question...by this time it was 2:45 and I was moving right along...until I hear someone down the hall from my area calling out...."did someone leave a lean cuisine in the microwave" oops...not the multitask champion after all....

So I did a little research and found that according to a study published this month that "Multi-tasking is not a sustainable answer to the too much to do and too few to do it problem. The brain’s executive control processes, the resource allocators, are overstressed and the result is a measurable time-cost".

I need to learn how to juggle instead.

A Donut Dilemma

Each of us are constantly in one way or another tested. In our career, our personal lives, we face many obstacles, challenges and roadblocks on our journeys. Some we tackle head on, some we go way around to avoid dealing with and some...just sneak up on you.

Lots of stress in my life lately. Stress with home and family, but even more are the work stresses. Anxiety over projects coming up, over personnel changes, and a lack of resources have made the past couple of weeks particularly challenging. But you do what you have to do....you focus, you hunker down and you "git er done". I deal with stress in a variety of ways....none of which is universally recommended, but pretty common I think.

I internalize. Always a popular choice. Keeping it inside, makes for a non-messy exterior, but an ulcer at 35 proved that my insides were not cooperating.

I drive. I get in the car, turn on the music and drive. I usually head North although I don’t know why. Driving lets me think and puts distance between me and the problem. Prescott is particularly popular for me.

I eat. The most popular of my stress reduction techniques....I took comfort in the simple joys of eating....comfort foods comforted me...never long lasting, but for the moment, it could always sooth away the most difficult of stress or anxiety. Many foods were always high on my stress eating top ten ( and no celery or carrot sticks were not among them). Coming in a consistent number one or two was that deep fried temptation...the donut.

Since making the decision to redirect my life in a new and healthier direction over the last 18 weeks I said a tearful goodbye to my special glazed friend. Knowing that a healthy future did not begin or end with a Krispy or a Dunkin.

After an early morning meeting where even more was heaped onto my already overflowing plate and losing a valued employee today that would leave me even further behind on all projects I returned to my desk and there sitting on the filing cabinet next to me was manna from heaven....two full, fresh boxes of donuts. They were so fresh you could smell the yeast and the unmistakable combination of cinnamon and sugar. Three dozen big, beautiful comforting confections all there for me to look at. Every part of me craved those donuts, any dedication or reminder of my 35 lb weight loss was nowhere to be found. I needed them. I was majorly stressed, depressed, and needed more than anything else the comfort that any or all varieties of donut might bring me. I know it was weak, knew it was fleeting, but more powerful than I can describe to you.

Rationalizing had already begun....I could treat myself - I had been doing so well, a few donuts would not hurt my overall weight loss. So I got up and walked over to the donuts and picked them up and carried the boxes across the room, came back to my desk grabbed a handful of almonds and realized that I was a bit stronger than I had realized and it felt good.

My Reflection

How will I be remembered. What legacy will I leave in the hearts and minds of those close to me. In a smaller sense, how am I perceived by those around me. Am I coming across as the person I want to be, or do I give out a totally different impression.

I am the president of an employee action committee at my company, a position that I did not apply for, but was volunteered to by my boss. I took the spot because I felt I could do at least the same job if not better as the pervious person had done. The committee plans fund raising activities and employee events (company picnic, annual meeting, holiday party).

We had a meeting today and I was delayed on the phone for a couple minutes. The rest of the committee was already present when I came up the hallway towards the conference room. As I approached, a conversation was in progress - "I wonder how many assignments we’ll get today - he is quite the control freak isn’t he" " well he knows what he wants and expects that result" "yeah but somebody that anal must have some issues".

I can see it now.....and now we remember our friend as the anal control freak full of issues that we all knew. WOW. Not exactly the warm fuzzy I was hoping for...I supervise a division full of people...I am a friend, a son, and honestly I felt I had a pretty good inkling of the kind of person I was and the way I came across to others...apparently I am missing the mark somewhere.

Like most people I hope to leave a legacy from my time here on this planet. If not able to impact the entire world then at least a good number of its inhabitants. I want to have made a difference. To have left a lasting impression upon the lives of the people around me would give my life purpose and the chance that it might endure beyond my own time here. I have taken the many chances for growth I have had over the years and tried to put them to good use, becoming a person that I could be proud of and respect - and attempting to give that back out to the world in my dealings with people and circumstances. ANAL CONTROL FREAK WITH ISSUES - not so much.

Time for some re-examination I think.

A Glimmer of Light

Over the past month or so I have had the feeling that something was amiss. I am still progressing with my diet and fitness plans, but almost felt as though I was phoning in the effort - going through the motions without the heart and conviction that I should have. In a broader sense, my whole life has been feeling that way lately, as though I was on a long highway I had traveled before - moving forward, but disconnected -I was on cruise control.

My father always called it coasting...when I was getting by well enough, but obviously not giving my best effort - coasting along on the merits of reputation, not results. I was aiming squarely for the status quo..and achieving it, but somewhere in the recesses of my mind I knew that it was not where I wanted to be. I am grasping at the comforts of my well worn life, not wanting to embrace the evolution of myself. Change is hard, cold, and precarious. It requires effort, focus, and an increased understanding. I just wanted the assurance of what I had and what I already knew.

My life right now is what happens when the need for the "routine" collides with the inevitable change that comes with growth...and it’s not very pretty.

One of my co-workers called it perfectly..."what’s up with you Grumpy"?
Yup that’s me. Nothing seems to be right these days. I seem perturbed about everything. I know a lot of it stems from my weight loss and fitness regimes.

We live in a fast-paced world. If we are forced to have patience, we get frustrated. We tap our feet, we drum our fingers, we sigh, we blame the other driver, the inept cashier, the slow waitress. For our generation we need results NOW. Diet is no different. We need crash diets, instant pills, 48 hour fasts, surgeries to speed up the process. When the results don’t meet with our expectations, our first thought is to blame the method instead of ourselves. Society preys on this weakness and creates even more ways to "melt the pounds away". Some of my anger comes from my own gullibility and impatience in the process. But lets be really honest here...it didn’t take a week for you to become overweight...so why should it take any less time to take the weight off. The scale is not my friend, if I weight myself more than twice a week it mocks me and makes me even less likely to have that stick-to-it attitude. Right now slow and steady are not easy to come by.

Exercise is the same way. Park further away, take the stairs, take a walk, get up off your back and DO something. I am exercising, I do my cardio, but I don’t have the drive, the balls to the wall attitude that would make the scale more of a friend. I am getting there, but I am taking the scenic route. I will not take diet pills, not take metabolism boosters, excess pills are not what I need, I need an infusion of dedication and belief in myself. Sure a trainer would be nice, but I don’t need it. Sure not having a rotator cuff injury would make things easier, but its not the end of the world. Wanting it more than anything else, that’s what I need. Being complacent isn’t cutting it.

I don’t know how to jump start myself. How to reignite the fire of change that should be coursing through me right now...I am excited to see the changes, but I see that until I make an internal adjustment in the course of my life, decide that it’s ok to change and grow....then I will be stuck on that same path..."dancing through life".

Dancing through life

Skimming the surface

Gliding where turf is smooth

Life's more painless

For the brainless

Why think too hard?

When it's so soothing

Dancing through life

No need to tough it

When you can sluff it off as I do

Nothing matters

But knowing nothing matters

It's just life

So keep dancing through

Dancing through life

Swaying and sweeping

And always keeping cool

Life is fraught-less

When you're thoughtless

Those who don't try

Never look foolish

Dancing through life

Mindless and careless

Make sure you're where less

Trouble is rife

Woes are fleeting

Blows are glancing

When you're dancing

Through life:

from the Broadway musical Wicked
by Stephen Schwartz