The last 3 weeks I made an important discovery. I overwork when I work in the shadows. What do I mean by this? Although the last 3 years have been a hybrid working situation, working from home, working from the office, two significant things have changed. Firstly, I lost my home office due to moving
Valerie Ling
You’re afraid. That’s the bottom line. I was listening to a podcast yesterday and the presenter made a bold claim. He said that we are wired to be afraid. Most of our emotional material can be boiled down to being afraid. Afraid of failing – your partner, your children, your friends, your colleagues, your clients,
Valerie Ling
I was recording a podcast interview yesterday and we got talking about this. What are we now experiencing since being 2 years in a pandemic? What is the new normal of functioning? What can we do about it? Languishing – between joyful and sorrowful. The middle space of emotional grey. The peaks are not quite
Valerie Ling
Space, the final frontier… There’s something about exploring the unknown, learning new things, challenging what is known and discovering new ways. This fascination explains my interest in Star Trek, which I thought would mean I liked all types of science fiction. This proved to be untrue. After asking for book recommendations in the genre, I
Valerie Ling
I have been taking some steps towards recovering the creative aspects in my wellbeing plan. I was stuck for a while without realising why. Having done some journalling, the answer became clearer. In the last few years of a pandemic and other stressors, it seemed trivial to bring out the creative side. It felt like
Valerie Ling
A couple of years ago I attended a conference about support for first responders. What really stood out to me was the focus on creating a culture where people check in on one another. For first responders, expressing difficult emotions or distress can be seen as weakness. There is often a culture of pushing through
Valerie Ling
Is “I’m fine” something you say when asked how you are doing? To convince yourself? To ward off further questions? Curiously, when I looked up the definition of the word ‘fine’ it can either mean ‘of very high quality’ or ‘very thin and narrow’. Perhaps you are able to produce very ‘fine’ work. Perhaps you
Valerie Ling
I was on a walk with someone the other day. When they made a statement that seemed to be universally true. Except, it was not all that true for me. “Don’t you find it’s hard to be productive when you are leading a team due to all the disruptions you get from email, messages, phone
Valerie Ling