Coming Back From Burnout

I returned from a hiatus today. I was away for about 8 or 10 days. Oh, I was still going to work each day and spending time at home. My body was there, but I was off somewhere else trying to recuperate from running hard and furiously at building a business for almost 7 1/2 months. Finally, a few days ago, my body rebelled and shut me down.

I ask for no sympathy. This is an American thing and people in other countries have learned how to work to live, rather than the other way around. I was chasing something maybe called success or euphemistically called the American Dream. But I had come to a screeching halt last week.

What does that feel like? One has no energy. Whatever it was that was driving me forward before had disappeared. One faces the usual tasks with little or no enthusiasm. It becomes a challenge to get through each day at work and get enough work done to justify one's presence there.

And it is also a time of sorting things out. What sorts of things? At this point in time, what is really important and necessary for me to be doing? Why am I choosing to do these things? Am I doing whatever it is I am doing for the right reasons or the wrong reasons? Are there additional compelling reasons I should or shouldn't be pursuing certain goals or getting involved in specific activities? Am I happy pursuing my current goals? .... and a thousand other possible questions. Finally, what should I be doing now, why and where should I be heading?

For me, it takes an act of will to get past these funky periods. When I have more or less sorted out the issues and decided how I am going to put in a fix, I am ready to move on. "If you know where you're going, You have already gone...."(Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park With George.) I make a decision and I am back to the work, full of energy and focus. Like I said, for me, it is an act of will.

I am certainly not the only person to have gone through this sort of thing. It happens to thousands of people every day. When this happens, the situation is what it is. The only option is to sort out the issues, figure out how to fix things, fix things and move one. It sounds like a simple thing to do. But that is not always the case. So one has to dig deep down into one's soul and find the courage and grit to pull oneself out of the doldrums. If I can do it, anyone can.

So, I am back among the functional again. In a day when being dysfunctional is almost fashionable, I will choose to be among the odd ones out. Being functional and happy and productive, that is okay by me.

It feels great to be back near the top of my game.

Kindest regards,

Howard Fireman

Muddling Through

Some days are just great, full of promise and hope. Some days are just there, with the challenge just to survive the day one hour at a time until the day is finally over.

Today is one of the latter. But I have learned to preserve a morsel of optimism even in the worst of times, because that small measure of hope is the only thing which is keeping the day from going from bad to worst. Sometimes one has no control whatsoever over the process or the outcome. So what can one do? Just go with flow and do the best one can under the circumstances.

And that is exactly what I am going to do. And that is exactly what you would probably do. So here we are. Two great minds with a single great thought. Very glad to have you on board, fellow traveller.

Kindest regards,

Howard Fireman
Houston, Texas

Picking Up Where I Left Off...

It is Sunday evening. I should be finishing up some accounting work I could not force myself to finish on Saturday. But here I am blogging. Lack of discipline, you say. Hardly! As a matter of fact, I am starting up once again to post to my personal blog.

Recently I started a business oriented blog, The 610 Business Journal. But that is about work and working. And writing the articles and putting it together is just a part of my Monday to Friday routine. It is professional work, just as marketing activities and doing accounting is work.

Having rediscovered all the work I did here in this blog, I was reminded of what an amazing experience it was to lose myself in creating a new entry. Being a writer is a somewhat strange pursuit. When I start writing a piece, something fictional or a piece about real world things, I never know where the words pouring out of my head are going to take me. I never know when I will stumble on a truth about life or the world which will suddenly appear in the text box. Just as your life and my life is a journey, so is the process of writing a piece of literature, big or small. When I am writing, all sense of time seems to disappear and without realizing it an hour or two will have flown by me, without my realizing it.

You see, when I am writing, no matter the format or the subject, I am looking for understanding. Understanding how people work. Understanding how the world works. Understanding how we allow our lives to go horribly wrong or how we find our way back from losing our way. I am trying to understand the journey of my life. I am trying to come to terms with who and what I am and to make peace with myself. And most importantly, because one thing I can do well is communicate using the written word, to make a small difference in the world. So writing, for me, is a critically important activity. When I am writing, it is a time and a place when I can escape from the world and practice some productive introspection.

We are advised by those in the financial know to pay ourselves first and then pay the people to whom we owe money next. When it comes to money and time, the two commodities are not all that different. For most of us, there are never enough hours in the day nor enough dollars (or pounds or euros or yen) to allow us to live our lives exactly as we would like to. We have "x" dollars in the bank and 24 hours in a day. That's it. No more. No less.

So may I modestly suggest that when it comes to time, we should also pay ourselves first. Okay, you say. But how do we do that? It is really very simple.

Start out with the assumption that you enjoy doing certain things immensely, that have little to do with work or family. Define for yourself that certain something you enjoy doing. For me it is making time to write every day. It could be reading. It could be writing a blog posting as I am doing right now. It could be hitting balls at a driving range. Is can be anything you choose it to be.

Next, when you arrange your schedule for the next day, set aside just 30 minutes or an hour. Set it aside to be your time to indulge yourself in that pursuit. Don't feel guilty for doing so. After having set aside that time, don't give the matter any additional thought. The next day, use that scheduled time to do whatever floats your psychological boat. You will feel so much better... you will recharge your batteries and feel hugely refreshed. Use every allotted second of time for it is your time. After you have, return to the world and do what you have to do to get through the remainder of the day.

I am paying myself first tonight. It really feels tremendously good to be writing to you now. It won't put any money in the bank. But it will make this day a livable one. For each of us, there will be some days which are painful or challenging. For even those days, allowing ourselves this privilege of doing our thing every day, will enable us to survive even the worst that life can throw at us. This strategy certainly works for me.

Understand that setting aside this brief bit of time for ourselves has got to be something that we consciously choose to do. It is a critical decision we make in our life. I do it to keep my sanity and to create an opportunity to find purpose and grace in my life. You can do it for any reason that seems reasonable to you.

So I am back writing new pieces for Inside My World... Don't be a stranger. You don't have to like everything that I write. But occasionally you will find a piece that resonates with you. So come on back, y'all, from time to time.

Kindest regards,

Howard Fireman
Houston, Texas