Take a Moment to Reflect During the Holidays This Year
Slow down and make a gingerbread house for no reason
Well well,
Merry Christmas Eve. Sorry I missed you last week. I got carried away with other things, it seems, and forgot to send you something...
It seems like there’s always some big-life-moves going on with me. In fact, I have some big news I’m going to share with you next week.
The news will shift the tides of our community (a bit), but for the better. You’ll just have to wait and see ;)
Think of it as a late Christmas present.
But I missed ya’ll and wanted to make sure to get something out to you. I’m back in LA now visiting family, and I’m taking a much-needed break from any kind of “side hustles.” Except, of course, I’m sending you the second to last Part Time post of 2021.
“Sometimes I feel useless when I’m unproductive.”
I wrote this in 2020 when I wrote my first ever blog post on Medium.
A lot has changed since then, though. I still pressure myself into productivity spikes, but I’ve mitigated the awful feelings I have when I don’t feel like doing my side hustle work after spending a day working my job.
It’s December, well, it’s been December for a little while now. We’ve all felt it. The weeks counting off before Christmas are probably the most unproductive. I’ve seen the “pretend to work” calendar memes, too.
Maybe I’m wired differently, but just because this month is labeled as December doesn’t mean I’m working any less. But maybe I should take the pressure off myself and work a little less diligently. Maybe I should put my laptop away sometime before 9 PM and spend some time with my roommates
The holidays are for friends and family...I just threw up in my mouth a little saying that, but honestly, it should be that way.
Here are a few reminders for my workaholics as we go into the holiday season.
You’re not a human-sized robot
Only machines can do the same task, as efficiently, for 24 hours, every day.
And even then, they blow away Earth’s resources due to the energy they need to function. You eat plants and protein bagels to get through the day. Okay, maybe that’s just me, but the point remains!
You can’t expect yourself to workaholic your way through the holidays. That just isn't sane behavior. Don’t do it for your family, do it for you.
I’m home for the holidays. I look at this quick trip home as quality family time as much as a vacation. I also reflected on my year and realized the scale of what I accomplished in 2021.
Life is about balance.
Cliche advice, I know, but sayings are cliche for a reason.
I’m not perfect. I'm just like you: I’m confused about my life’s purpose and feel tired even after getting 8 hours of sleep.
Let me blow your mind: you’ll never find equilibrium, but you’ll search for it for the rest of your life. If we ever found our “true level,” our lives would be ruined like Morty’s when his grandpa showed it to him.
Look up “Rick and Morty true level” if you want to laugh your pants off.
Anyway, happiness is a fleeting feeling, just like a disappointment. Just the other day, my equilibrium was way off, but I woke up the next day feeling great. I want to be somewhere in the middle, but it’s not always feasible.
When it comes to work-life balance, you need to find your happy place. That’s a spot that exists somewhere between ending the year off with a bang and also politely excusing yourself from a project that would take time away from family time.
Back to the title (the main point)
I’m probably not going to make a gingerbread house (I don’t need to eat a 7,500 calorie brick of sugar), but I will take the usual time I spend on my side hustles and divvy them amongst my friends and family.
It’s a nice reset, if anything else. My friends deserve my time, but I also deserve to recharge my batteries.
So if there’s any advice I can leave you with, it’s to focus on yourself for a little bit. It sounds selfish, but it’s not. To get out of your comfort zone, you need to put all the attention on yourself.
Once you break out and learn to navigate what you once feared, that’s when you are in the best position to help other people.
See you next week for the BIG reveal ;)
-Ryan