I have a terrible habit of working through lunch because it’s the only time no one seems to email, text, or want a meeting with anyone. So it’s a block of time that I continue to sit at my desk, sometimes eat (if I remember or feel that I can spare the time to go get food from the fridge), and try to catch up, even a little bit.
I’ve desperately wanted to get back into some semblance of regular running again, but I just can’t do it before work (I’ve really tried but it just doesn’t work!), and I’m usually too exhausted after work; if I hike home and manage to go straight upstairs and change into running gear and get straight out the door I can sometimes do it, but it’s never a good run. Frustratingly, my best running time of day seems to be between about 10am and 2pm. That doesn’t work well with the job for the most part.
During the pandemic I made it a habit to block out a chunk of time every day, usually around 10am, to run M/W/F and go for a canyon hike T/Th. It got a bit harder when I changed positions and wasn’t flying solo anymore. Then it all sort of fell apart when I started working back downtown two days a week. And it fell further apart when I hurt myself trying to run too much last fall to make up for things and get back on track. Too much, too hard, too fast. Hurting myself meant I couldn’t run for a few months, and then the weather was awful and I’d lost the habit. So that backfired.
Building a habit is hard. Rebuilding the same habit is harder.
As a result of a turn of circumstances downtown, I’ve come full circle and have returned to full time at the hatchery.
I’m sad because I’ve been disconnected from a half a dozen or so people that I was building non-virtual community with and I’ve returned to being a bit too isolated. But I’m happy because I have enjoyed working a few days a week from the spot the past seven or eight years, and it was the best possible place to work during the pandemic. I went almost stir crazy working from home and only lasted about six months before I was back working from the office there full time before the first fall was done.
I am not one of those people who wants to work from home.
Work is work, and home is home, and I don’t really want the two connected physically. I worked from home for a number of years, when we lived in our condo. It was small and so the desk was int he bedroom. When I went to bed the last thing I saw, and the first thing I saw when I woke up, was work. And when we moved here, we laid down a rule that no electronic devices beyond an alarm clock was permitted in the bedroom. When I leave work, I want to leave work behind. I’m not always successful, but we are all works in progress.
I am hopeful that I might be able to make myself find time for myself and become refamiliarized with all the canyon trails by doing some weekly combination of hiking to rebuild strength and stamina, and trail running to get the cardio I’d come to ….not enjoy…never enjoy…but …to…to be familiar with. The trail running engages the brain in ways the road running doesn’t, because there are things like rocks, and roots, uneven ground that require a bit more focus to not break an ankle.
And along these trails, whether running or hiking, I’ve also come to be familiar with many local walkers, runners, and dogs. I’ve also learned to look for the little treasures that can be found, and when to look for them. A bright spot under an overhang of leaves catches my eye and I stop and investigate.
This place is good for my mental health. So, until the next upheaval, I will be grateful to the person who has been generous in letting me work from here full time, and I will remember to make myself stop and marvel at the mushrooms and their ephemeral nature😌
