For me the “real” world is a place where we all get on, where life has a sense of meaning and purpose and I feel connected to my spiritual source.
I find it’s the place I get to when on an extended holiday.
Spending time with Danita (and in this case, my parents and sister as well) enables me to stop the noise and panic in my head and see things in perspective.
We’ve just had a week and a half in Perth for my father’s 90th birthday and the first half of the Jewish festival of Passover.
It also covered the Easter period.
The time away looked like this:
Sunday – fly to Perth
Monday – Dad’s birthday. Take him out of the nursing home for a lunch at one of his favourite restaurants.
Tuesday – Birthday celebration for Dad at the nursing home and trip to Rottnest Island
Wednesday & Thursday – relax on Rottnest and enjoy the Quokkas (I covered this in more detail in last week’s post Going Cold Turkey)
Friday – Good Friday. Prepare for Passover
Saturday, Sunday, Monday – Easter. Enjoy quality time with family.
Tuesday – get some work done and last chance to visit my father. The time difference meant it was challenging to catch people in Sydney but I did manage a couple of important conversations.
Wednesday – fly back to Sydney
Thursday – working day. Back to the Un-Real world.
Friday – Jewish Holy Day – no work.
Saturday & Sunday – get back into our normal routine.
So, here we are back to normal.
What’s this Un-Real world I’m talking about?
I see the real world as a place where things happen with grace and ease.
The Un-Real world is full of stress, tension, angst and frustration.
According to many, that’s the REAL world and they view the other option as unreal, idealistic, naive.
To quote John Lennon; “you may think I’m a dreamer”. Hopefully, he was right when he said; “but I’m not the only one.”
I’ve already noticed the insidious creep of overwhelm, the feeling “there’s so much to do I haven’t got time for …”
In response I’ve decided to resist the urge to get dragged into the black hole.
But how to do it?
1. Remember the Real world.
This involves spending time meditating or doing things to keep focussed. I’m finding the daily routine of morning rituals associated with getting reminded about the divine and my relationship with it is helping this part.
2. Don’t take things personally.
Stuff happens! My default response (and a number of people I know) is “I’ve screwed up”, “I did something wrong”. I’ve now decided to let this ride and change my reaction to “what’s the best response I can make to this situation?”
3. Manage my clients’ expectations of my availability.
Before I went away I let people know I wouldn’t be available and they were OK with that.
In the past I tended to respond to requests with the attitude of “I have to get it done now!” Part of that was attempting to keep my To-Do list minimal, a worthy intention.
The problem with that is it meant I was always driven by someone else’s requirements and agenda.
Let’s face it, in business it’s very rare to have a real life and death situation. I’ve found that once a client knows the issue will be dealt with and they know when, they’re usually happy with that.
4. Make the means of celebrating the reason for the celebration.
Today, Danita and I collected our winter clothes from our storage facility. Going through our stuff I discovered some bottles of champagne that were being kept “for a special occasion”.
I brought one back and put it into the fridge, deciding that sharing a bottle of Moet was a “special occasion”.
So, no more waiting for a reason to celebrate – celebrating is now the reason 🙂
Anyone want to join us for some champers?