Ooof—this was a week!
So many goals, so much to do, and so little that went as desired.
Weeks like this shove me into two unhelpful mental spaces. The first is overwhelm, which leaves me thinking, “I can’t handle this.”
The second is disappointment in myself, which makes me fixate on everything I didn’t, or couldn’t, do.
When a client of mine expresses overwhelm around food or cooking or planning meals, or any of the things that tend are affecting nutrition, I try to redirect back to the question of what is possible.
Maybe these sound like rudimentary solutions. Maybe you feel as if you shouldn’t have to engage in this kind of self-talk.
But I can tell you that overwhelm and discouragement are pretty universal, affecting most of the people that I work with, and ambitious solutions aren’t the answer. Small, achievable steps are what actually work.
For the record, I get overwhelmed about cooking and meal planning sometimes, too, but I have enough professional perspective to handle those moments effectively.
It’s much, much harder for me to work through professional or personal overwhelm, and I get down on myself all too easily!
I tried to be my own healer this week, assigning myself the same task of charting out baby steps that I’d give a client:
I also met reality where it was by being communicative about a deliverable that I was behind on, saying no to a few social plans, and readjusting my sense of what was going to get done in the past seven days.
None of this was what I’d have preferred. The small victory was in accepting the whole of it and moving on.
Now it’s Sunday, and a new week is ahead.
Maybe I’ll be unusually productive and feel super efficient—that would be great. Or I could have another week that feels muddled and chaotic.
Either way, I’ll adjust, I’ll do my best, and I’ll keep my focus on what I can do, and do well.
Happy Sunday, friends. Here are some recipes and reads.
1. A delectable dipping sauce for blistered shishito peppers.
2. Eager to make this wintery pasta with Soyrizo.
3. I made and froze some of my vegan pumpkin waffles two weekends ago, and I can’t wait to drizzle them with this sweet sauce.
4. I’m eyeing this brussels sprout and quinoa salad for fall.
5. This red bean chili is just the thing for an autumnal Sunday supper.
1. I thought it was interesting to read this post, in which Adam Grant is simplifes and relays the findings of a retrospective study on the distress experienced by musicians (presumably musicians who were not able to work or perform) during Covid-19 lockdown.
Within this study, mindfulness was actually associated with greater levels of job tension and distress. On the other hand, a hopeful and forward-thinking mindset led to more professional engagement, resiliency and reduced tension and distress over time.
I don’t see mindfulness practice as being at odds with forward-thinking, and I think a mindful experience of the present moment is as important as the capacity to anticipate what’s next.
What the study indicates, I think, is the value of understanding impermanence. Much as we all need tools for building resiliency and distress tolerance in the here and now, we also need to believe that something different and better can be possible in the future.
The darkest periods of my life have been those in which I stopped feeling as though anything different could become possible.
The strongest and healthiest ones were those in which I maintained an awareness of how surprising life can be, how so much can change in only a moment. Not-knowing is scary, but it’s also a gateway for hope.
2. Digital fasting is the only type of fasting I’m interested in. But it’s tough to do when so much of my job—not to mention some of my social connections—requires time online.
With my hectic schedule this past week I didn’t have much time to check my Instagram, let alone post. I didn’t read much online until this very morning, as I was drafting this post.
It felt pretty good, honestly.
So now the question is how to maintain my online life in a way that works for my career without feeling overly depleted by it?
This article doesn’t really give a solution—I’m going to have to construct that solution for myself—but it does give me a springboard for strategizing.
3. Growing evidence suggests that there may be a link between osteoporosis and poor air quality.
4. This article posits that human adaptations to prehistoric times may now be hindering our ability to respond to ecological crisis. I thought it was a compelling read.
5. Finally, this perspective on simplicity and single-tasking couldn’t have found me at a better time.
In food news, my fall pumpkin embrace continues. I made my cranberry walnut pumpkin muffins two weeks ago, and I just finished stirring up a big batch of my vanilla spice pumpkin overnight oats to be divvied up for meal prep breakfasts this week.
I’ve also got a small backlog of recipes that I want to share with you.
Speaking of mindfulness, my aim is to do this in the fashion that Thich Nhat Hanh suggests:
“Whatever the tasks, do them slowly
with ease,
in mindfulness,
so not do any tasks with the goal
of getting them over with.
Resolve to each job in a relaxed way,
with all your attention.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh, from The Miracle of Mindfulness
xo
I’m shaking off the last aches and sniffles of a summer cold this morning, but my grumpiness about the cold is being offset by my delight in a beautiful, dry, and clear morning here in NYC. It’s been damp and gray for the last few days—good weather for staying home and sipping tea, but a little dreary overall. It’s nice to see the sun. I’ve been reading some articles on loneliness in the last day or two, both published in The New Scientist….
Spontaneity has never been my strong suit. I’ve always admired it from afar, nodding my head approvingly at the idea of carpe diem, going with the flow, and all of that. But acknowledging its value and actually welcoming it into my life are two very different things. I know that my resistance to spontaneity has to do with my attachment to control, or the idea of it, which is something I’m trying to let go of. It’s not easy to let go of…
Hi friends. I’m taking a pause instead of getting weekend reading up tonight. No urgent reason, but I’ve had a lot of work to do today, and I’m feeling the need to wind down early. I’ve got something on my mind to write about, but doing so tonight would mean rushing, and it would give me less time to finish up my batch cooking, watch a little TV, maybe even pay a visit to my mom. These are things that my body and…
Happy Sunday, friends! I finished up my clinicals on Friday, and life is good. I’ve also got the cold/malaise situation that I typically develop at the end of a busy semester, so I’m taking this afternoon off to rest and drink tea. While I’ve been too tired to do much, I haven’t been too tired to bake, and I’ve got a delicious new snack cake recipe coming to you tomorrow—and some great article links for next weekend. For today, so much love. xo
Leave a Comment