Salon post : March 16

[jenett]

Welcome to this week's salon post!

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Topic of the week
I took Monday and Tuesday off this week, to play catchup on life. It got me thinking about how I use vacation time, and what makes my life easier.

What do you do that improves your life? (Especially if it's a somewhat new thing.)

What I've been up to:
I am now cheerfully into the Martha seasons of New Who. But today, I'd love to rec a podcast, This Is Love (from the same people who do Criminal, which I also like a lot).

I listened to episode 5, "A Private Life" on the way into work this morning, and it is both adorable and a fascinating view of legal history around same-sex marriage and changing attitudes.


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Comments

[jenett]

So, to answer my own question - my job is very generous with vacation compared to most US jobs, and I get 22 days a year (or a hair more than 5 weeks).

I keep a chunk stored (in case of medical issues and a buffer in case of changing jobs - I live in a state where it has to get paid out) which has taken me a couple of years to build up.

I've started getting in the habit of taking a week every 4ish months to stay home, sleep in, and work on projects I can't get traction on. (Usually with a day in there of going and doing something touristy locally that I don't normally have the energy to do.)

This week was a 'March is a very long month, with no long weekends in it', and having four days off in a row was a lovely treat. (I live in Massachusetts, where Patriot's Day is a state holiday, so we do have a three day weekend in April.) And I ended up with an extra day off due to a snow day on Wednesday.

Anyway, I'm finding this habit to be a great way to recharge and it's making me feel a lot less overwhelmed by bigger projects at home I want to sort out.

Of course, I also want to do a bit more travel (like the trip to London I did in 2015), but that's a different kind of vacation.

tl;dr :P

[alexseanchai]

Fuckening immune system needs a fuckening upgrade. Or a refund. I will accept a refund.

That is basically what I've been up to this week. Lying in bed hacking my goddamn lungs up. With a side of picking fights on the internet all this coming weekend, because I know me on prednisone, okay, anger response goes up and emotional regulation goes down. (I apologize in advance.) And I've got a sulk anyway because Tuesday and Wednesday were sick leave but Thursday and today have to be annual (because I am just that fucking low on paid sick leave) which means I get to do math to the effect of, which of my holy days that I've scheduled off work do I need un-schedule off work in order to preserve the goddamn paycheck?

Re improving my life: Religious devotion and spiritual and magical practices, which I'm debating how much I want to (or can) discuss in a public post, and I'm not sure to what extent you lot want to hear about those anyway. Some of which is definitely new within the past...couple months? yeah that sounds like the right time frame.

I would very much like to be doing yoga classes—I did the introductory $30/30d free-access-to-any-class thing at a nearby yoga studio the other month, and that rocked, but...money. ($15 for one class or $60 for ten, which is a lil out of reach.)

(Thing I am NOT doing: explaining on Facebook all the reasons why dude's suggestion, in response to my initial snark about needing to upgrade my immune system, that I start an exercise program is a fucked suggestion and also not what I would call new. Because I still know me on prednisone! And I haven't got a feel for his attitudes towards disability, either, so I don't feel like explaining how my access needs are self-contrary.)

If I could collect some more focus I could finish that ebook conversion for Neos Alexandria and get money for that, which would pay for a few yoga classes! Or most of a reiki session. (Yes, I know I'm turning into That White Chick. I'm trying to figure out the principles with which I can [re]construct a style of magic that coheres with Hellenic polytheist practice without being appropriative, but I'm not sure how to get there from here, for literally any present-day value of "here".)

I just started an eight-week program courtesy of my health insurance that is half cognitive-behavioral therapy, half coaching, all over the phone (yippee), and I haven't got to the coaching half yet because scheduling fun (that'll start Monday) but the therapy half started yesterday and therapist's thought is I could pick a half hour every day, same time, and either work on my novel or meditate. I think that'll be 12:30-1:00p by royal decree. And we shall see how that goes.

I am trying to employ podcasts to make chores-doing less unappealing, and also get the podcasts listened to. (I found somewhere that archived most of The Jaguar and the Owl! WOOOO now I have more than the two eps I'd downloaded before the site went pfft!) This would work better if I had energy for chores-doing, mind you...

[lilysea]

One thing I've started doing VERY recently which is improving my life - and which is thanks to you - is tracking comments on Dreamwidth entries.

Until you mentioned it a few days ago, I didn't realise that it was a thing which I could do!

So, thank you for that! ^_^

[theora]

Two things I have been attempting (with variable success):

1) Decluttering/neatening/generally trying to make parts of my house nice to be in. I never learned how to clean up as a kid (borderline hoarder dad), but I realize that I'm much happier when I walk into a room that's uncluttered and inviting. With two kids in the house, not every room can be that way, but my bedroom can be. But it's hard, especially when I've gotten rid of loads of stuff yet don't seem to have made a dent *grumble*.

2) Spending less time on the internet (she says, from the internet). I feel better with less screen time, but it's pretty much addictive by design. Also I'm on Facebook trying to get rid of my excess stuff *rolleyes*. I use my laptop for everything: to do lists, recipes, music and podcasts, and "while I'm there" "just for a minute" I take a peek at Facebook, find some stupid argument, and 20 minutes pass without me realizing. But there have been days when I've deliberately shut down and picked up a book. Small progress is some progress.

[lilysea]

Dear wise ones:

Does anyone have any advice on how to resist the urge to pick pimples?

I keep picking them, and then needing topical antibiotic cream, or even getting cellulitis.

I manage to resist the urge for 12 hours, but then cave just before bed. :(

There has to be a better way, surely?

(Not sure if it matters, but the pimples are on the underneaths of my breasts.)

[rmc28]

Two new-ish things I do to improve my life:

* Morris dancing: last autumn I joined a womens side that rehearses weekly around the corner from home, at a convenient time of the evening. This is giving me regular exercise of a kind that also works my brain in a pleasing way, and a new social circle. I work in IT and live with husband, brother and sons, so I particularly appreciate a small window of the week which is women-dominated.

* Meditation. I am working through the beginner "packs" on the Headspace app, and it's essentially mindfulness / breathing-focused exercises, which is not new to me, but I've never been disciplined enough to do them daily before. It is more effective than I'd expected! I am managing stress better and feeling more settled and grounded. As I have a lot of stressful things going on at the moment, this is very helpful.

I've a lot of experience with using breathing exercises specifically to manage pain. I learned them originally in preparation for childbirth, but it comes in useful for a bunch of other routine-but-painful medical procedures - cancer treatment has meant I've had a lot of those. The breathing patterns I fall into are very similar but my focus when meditating is much more "be present, observe without judging" all my sensations in general, whereas for pain management it's more about getting my body to relax as much as possible, using breathing as a focus and channel for coping with that one sensation.

The app is very ... 'mechanical' isn't quite the word I want, nor is 'neutral'. It doesn't have any religious or spiritual content, it's just about the actions to take to do these mindfulness exercises. This secular/pragmatic approach suits me, but it might frustrate others.

[adafrog]

The last few Lents I've tried to meditate, and it's never really worked out. One time I tried to carve out time in the evening while on the living room floor-too many distractions. Last time I tried walking meditation, but walking around the chair in my library was too small. lol

This year I've added it in with other prayers I do while in the barn, and so far I've been able to keep up with it. And I think it's helped me to work through some stressful things. Yay!

[jazzyjj]

First off, please pardon the somewhat lengthy reply. Technology has indeed played a big part in my life. But I've been making a concerted effort to try and get out of my apartment building more, as alluded to in my previous reply to this post. That is also what my support team here wants from me, and I agree with them. However, what my team and I don't totally agree on is the method(s) I'm using to accomplish this mission. I have been an ADA paratransit user off and on for a number of years. In recent years the service in my area has seen some improvements. But I was recently talking with a staff member here about this, and he brought up something which perhaps hadn't been considered by me or anybody else. He mentioned that my requests for door-to-door assistance, i.e., drivers getting out of their vehicles to assist me to said vehicle, are not that common. I have always been a white cane user, and only have light perception. I live in an area with tons of traffic, and the local bus company recently began rolling out hybrid vehicles at least for their paratransit customers. This inandof itself is fine with me, but more often than not I have had difficulty knowing when my rides are here to pick me up. Furthermore, not all of the drivers thus far have gotten out and assisted me. Luckily I can sense shadows, so I've sometimes been able to distinguish the presence of my paratransit vehicle. In addition, I can hear these vehicles beeping when they back up. But not all of the beeping comes from paratransit. Some of it is garbage trucks and other stuff. Sometimes these drivers don't pull up right in front of or beside me for whatever reason, and I therefore need other people with me. Thus far most of these people have been sighted neighbors in my apartment complex. . My mother and I are going to meet with somebody on Thursday about getting an iPhone, and one reason I want an iPhone is the GPS. I think it will assist me perhaps a good deal in this respect. So there's my rant for now, lol! Have a good day folks.