Tag: managing stress

Finishing Strong, Resting, and Being Mindful of our Pace (11-20-24)

This week we are going to have a one-off entry about finishing the year strong and reflecting on running races, our pace, and finish lines.

Let’s say that I’m running a race.  I just passed mile marker 12 and the next marker will be 13.1.  Should I go all out and sprint until I hit 13.1 miles?  It depends on how far the race is.  If it’s a half marathon, then 13.1 miles is the finish line.  I can go all out, because after that I’ll have days and weeks of recovery before I push myself that hard again.  If it’s a marathon, then 13.1 miles is only halfway, and going all out will only exhaust me and decrease my chances of finishing strong without injuries.

What does this have to do with anything?  How many times have you heard, “We need to finish the year strong!” during a staff meeting, a town hall, etc.?  Per our race analogy, when we think about finishing strong, we need to understand where the finish line truly is.  We need to adjust our pace and effort based on where the finish line is and our ability to rest and recover.

Earlier in my career, I felt like Q4 was a true a finish line.  Finishing the year strong meant sprinting hard AND knowing that I’d have time to recover and would be able to ease into the next year before sprinting right away again.  Over the past few years, I’ve come to feel like there really isn’t a clear finish line anymore.  Just the other day someone was talking about how Q4 isn’t the end of the year but is really just the kick-off to having a strong Q1.  It’s like everything blurs together into a frantic frenzy.  I end up going all out in Q4 only to find myself spending the holidays sick, burned out, and exhausted both physically and mentally.  By the time the new year rolls around, I’m still not recovered, and I’m being asked to start sprinting right away.  Does that sound familiar?  Somewhere there must be a happy medium, where we work hard without running ourselves into the ground and starting the next year burned out from the moment it starts.  Somewhere, there has to be a happy medium where we take care of ourselves and each other.

Challenge 1: How can we all be more mindful of our pace and its sustainability as we close out the year?

Challenge 2: How can you lead and set a pace that is sustainable?  (Ex: When is the last time you clearly told your team that you don’t want them to run themselves into the ground, and made trade-off decisions where you would be okay with some things not getting done?)

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Lies of P, Poison Levels, and Stress (3-20-24)

Last week was about blaming the controller vs taking accountability.  This week is about Lies of P, poison levels, and stress.

My kids were watching me play, and they noticed that I started losing health.  They were confused, and they asked me why I was losing health even when the monsters weren’t hitting me.  I explained to them that the area I was in was full of poison (called Corruption in the game).  At first, the poison doesn’t do anything.  It just slowly builds up.  However, once it hits a critical limit, the poison begins damaging my character, and my health quickly fades.  In order to survive, I needed to equip poison resistant armor, use items that reduce poison, and find safe places where there wasn’t poison.

What does this have to do with anything?  Instead of it being a level in a video game, let’s call it work or life.  Instead of it being poison in a video game, let’s call it stress.  Similar to my video game, the stress level builds over time.  At first, I don’t even notice it.  The levels rise over time, and then all of a sudden it hits HARD.  Anyone else been there?  When this happens, I’m no longer the person, husband, dad, friend, and employee I want to be or could be.

We are never going to live in a world without stress.  However, we can try to be more cognizant of stress, our current stress levels, and what we can do.  Similar to the poison armor, I know I handle stress better when I’m routinely taking care of myself.  Similar to the item that takes poison away, I know that getting outside, moving my body, and talking with someone helps clear stress out of my system.  Similar to needing to find a poison free space in the game, sometimes I know that I just need to step back and away from everything. 

The challenge: How will you recognize and deal with rising stress levels?

Bonus vulnerability moment- The short version is that the last few months have been hard in many aspects of life.  Using our analogy, my poison/stress meter had been overflowing for some time, and I wasn’t who I wanted to be.  I decided to leverage our Lyra benefit and talk to a therapist for the first time.  During our initial conversation I said, “I’m surviving right now, but I want more than that.  I deserve more than that.  My family does too.  I need tools or something to help me.”  It’s only been a couple of sessions so far, but I’m so thankful I reached out.  I share all of this to say that if you’re talking to someone, you’re not alone AND I’m proud of you for asking for help.  If you’re thinking of talking to someone, you’re not alone, AND I’m proud of you for recognizing that you might benefit from help.  It’s okay to want/need help sometimes.  It’s part of being human. 

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry