I'm home and that makes me happy. I've tried to approach this week with recovery and focus. Work is extremely busy right now but it is a long season and I know it is up to me to avoid burnout. I can't afford to burn out or hit the wall, so I'm trying to do little things every day to stay healthy and happy.

Journaling. Every morning when I wake up, I write in the Five-Minute Journal. I do it again when I head to bed. Doing this consistently means I can spot patterns, both positive and negative ones, and then come up with game plans to compensate. One thing I noticed was that I kept feeling like I lost track of the day with all the emails and work. So I changed how I approached my day. This week, I only do emails and random work tasks for the first hour, then I focus on specific projects for the next few hours, and finally I close the day with more emails. It seems to be helping.

Meditating. When the New Year kicked off, my life was incredibly stressful. I felt like I was drowning in work and it started to bleed into all parts of my life. I have used Headspace off and on for a few years and I decided I needed to prioritize daily meditation to become calmer. After doing it every day for three weeks, I began to notice a marked difference in how my brain worked. I have more control over thoughts and emotions and that's huge. I've now done over 6 weeks straight and I'm loving it.

Getting outside. Even in the Belgian rain, I'm making myself take a lunch break and go for a walk. I listen to a podcast (currently listening to the Tim Ferriss Show or the Lively Show a lot) and make myself stop thinking about work. It means I'm more focused and efficient in my afternoon.

Stopping work between 5-6pm. I work on a global project and our headquarters is in Atlanta, Georgia. This means their 5pm is 11pm for me. People kept emailing, calling and whatsapping all evening long. It wasn't healthy and meant I never disconnected. Now, unless it is vital or an emergency, I'm getting better at not responding. It also trains other people to be more aware of the time zone difference.

No more dieting. I've been on a diet for months, ever since the foot surgery. I can't lose the weight I gained. I went over a month of not eating any treats and basically only eating salads. I increased my workouts significantly. I focused on drinking water. I upped my step count to 12,500. Guess what happened. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Maybe it is all the work stress and my body still recovering from the bone damage from the surgery, but whatever is happening isn't related to calories. It doesn't matter how few or many I eat, my body stays the exact same weight. So for this week, I decided I didn't care. I would focus on working out and eating healthy, but that's it. No more obsessing.

I'll be home this weekend and it's the first weekend or day off that I've had since the first of January. I desperately need it and look forward to being lazy and catching up on brainless TV and maybe even reading a book.

Recovery Week