October 19, 2024

Anindita -

Something I thought about:

  • I took a day off and realized that I need to take a real break. Right now I have vacations scheduled over the holidays, but holiday vacations aren’t necessarily the most relaxing… I knew this month was going to be a lot, and it has been. Trying to figure out a better way to pace myself. I did realize that I’ve been feeling attacked by notifications — the quantity and variety of them. I was in a meeting and came out to 70 Slack notifications, dozens of emails, text messages, Signal messages, WhatsApp messages — none of it was urgent, but I was completely overwhelmed. At a friend’s suggestion, I turned off almost all notifications. And I removed badges from all of my apps. I don’t need red flags with high numbers all over my screen. This has helped calm my brain so much. I don’t need false urgency on top of everything.

Something I did: 

  • Took a day off
  • Rested
  • Read
  • Wrote
  • Attended so many meetings
  • Saw a comet
  • Talked several others through comet spotting and photography
  • Saw an aunt and uncle for the first time in about 20 years.
  • Turned off badges on all of my apps and notifications for almost all of them

Something I read: 

  • Slow reads: How to Live Together by Roland Barthes, The Long Form by Kate Briggs, The Mirror and the Light by Hilary mantel, and War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  • This piece on prose poems and unlearning some of what gets internalized in a formal writing workshop.