Workin' It

Today was my first day back after a few days of "fake-cation." Here's what I have to report:

1 |  I appreciate the fact that my workplace is flexible. I was able to change a requested day off, and nobody thought it was a big deal.

2 |  One of my co-workers took care of an onerous task that I was dreading while I was away. I hadn't asked her to do it, but I came back and it was done. So much for the time spent dreading...

3 |  I have opportunities to be outside in the sunshine a few times a day.

4 |  I was so busy today that the time went by quickly. Although it was verra noisy in the office, I still got done the most important tasks of the day. 

5 |  My new boss did something very cool for me today. No BS, and my request was honored. She made it clear that she feels I'm important and that she'll do the things that are in her power to keep me as happy as I can be there. Her actions are appreciated.

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"My life has been filled with many misfortunes, most of which never happened."  - Montaigne

So...dread. I mentioned above that I was dreading a task I am very bad at. Things with too many steps to remember are frustrating to me. Even more frustrating was the fact that I had wasted time dreading it. It never occurred to me that my co-worker would have taken care of it.

My overactive imagination dreams up scenarios that usually never come to pass. There have been times where I have planned a tough conversation, only to have the person not show up for work that day. I've been nervous about meetings that were cancelled, plans that were jettisoned, tasks that were re-assigned.

What a colossal waste of my time. But how to stop it? I've been working on being more aware of the present. Sometimes I'm successful and sometimes I'm not. This morning I woke up at 4 a.m. worried about things that really didn't merit attention at that time in the morning. I'm not good at problem solving at that time of the day, and being awake that early just made it harder to take on the day.

What usually works for me is to tell myself, "you can worry about that tomorrow after 9 a.m." It almost always does the trick. The other thing that works is to keep a notepad by the bed, and jot down worries as they come. Even better is to take some time out of the day - only a set amount of time - and worry my brains out onto a piece of paper.

I'm actually glad I had that bout with insomnia. It reminded me of the work I need to do to take care of myself and avoid dread.

What about you? Do you have any tried-and-true ways to put out the dread-fires before they fry your brain to a crisp? Let me know in the comments below.