Week 1, done. Just three weeks and three days left. Today seemed a bit harder than normal to stay away from the news. I had gotten into the habit of spending Saturday mornings getting caught up on the news and happenings in the world.
During this week I found myself spending more time in silence, especially in the car. When the particular podcast I listened to was complete, I couldn’t switch to the radio or news. Instead, I just shut it off. It was strange at first, but as the days wore on, I found comfort in the absence of noise.
Silence is important. It gave me time to think, process, and just let go of a few things. As I was reflecting in silence, I remembered a book that I read by A. J. Jacobs, “The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment.” A.J. takes on different experiments with his life and one that came to mind was when he decided to “unitask” (only doing one thing at a time) because in his words:
“I’m trying to do this because I realize I have a problem focusing. My brain is all over the place.” Chapter 8 – The Unitasker
I related to his words and the need to be less scattered and more focused. And this challenge has helped bring some of that. In my attempt to also be healthier this year, I have been trying to bring my lunch to work each day, and take 15 minutes or so to actually eat it. This “lunch-time” has also been a great time to either watch a video on Ted.com or just read. Coincidentally, A.J Jacobs was on the front page this week and I watched his talk and he spoke about the importance of silence. His talk appears below.
So far this week has felt less stressful, and the large sense of impending doom around the world seems to be slowly lifting away. It is January and here in New Hampshire it is going to be sunny and 50 degrees today. Let’s see what week two brings.
Carl Weber Consulting 