Kerri On Down The Road

The most difficult part of the writing process I have encountered is editing.  This is where you need to painstakingly re-read your work to fine-tune it, correcting mistakes and making tweaks to ensure that your best work moves forward.  I can put words on the page with no problem, but to go back through them and actually take in what I have written feels terribly uncomfortable and creates a huge mental roadblock for me that only a deadline can clear.  Interesting how this same resistance to take a deep look at narratives has played out in other areas of my life as well. Yesterday I was listening to an episode of the  10 Percent Happier podcast featuring Dan Harris in conversation with Dr. Gabor Mate.  I have listened to many interviews and podcasts with Dr. Mate in the past and enjoy hearing his perspective on addiction and more recently on how the way we live has an impact on our psycho-social-biological health outcomes.  The discussion centred on his lat...

One of the biggest battles I wage with myself regularly involves time.  Primarily, how to use almost every last minute of each waking hour doing, accomplishing, moving, being.  It has proven to be rather exhausting at times, and if I were to ask the audience I know that I would not be the only one nodding in solidarity. What is it about time that drives us to try and become hyper-efficient?  Maybe it's not time at all, maybe it is us and the mindset of more is more that drives this urge.  At my last job, a sense of warped pride came with having a jammed schedule, hopping in and out of Teams meetings daily.  Blustering onto calls a few moments late because the last one ran long, inevitably causing the current one to do the same.  I remember feeling panicked on days when my calendar looked open - was I doing enough without those multi-coloured productivity blocks for all to see? As I prepared to move away from that bustle I knew I had some inside work to do....

 This weekend marks a significant life change for me.  I have officially moved from identifying as someone who works in Financial Services to being someone who USED to work in Financial Services.  As of Friday, I have retired from a twenty-seven-year-long career.  Even typing this out seems surreal and hard to completely wrap my head around.  The good news is that I have absolutely wrapped my heart around this decision. It is not one that I came to quickly, lightly, or without ongoing dialogues with so many people in my life.  And to all those souls who held space for me as I hemmed and hawed over this decision, I offer my deepest gratitude.  I could not have come to the choice I made without being given the space and time to properly deliberate and question the why behind my thoughts and the how. Retired feels like a strange word to use to describe myself, especially since I am still young enough to be in the workforce for at least another decade or m...

There was a time in my life when all activity took place indoors.  I went to the gym regularly and spent many hours lifting weights, riding stationary bikes, and running on the treadmill.  Looking back it amazes me to think about how little time I did spend outside, and how I hibernated through the colder seasons.   Once I was introduced to group cycling and got a taste for being active outside, I couldn't imagine relegating my fitness endeavors to indoor spaces.  I had a need to be in motion and in nature.  Suddenly all the seasons began to hold appeal, and I started to take up new hobbies that allowed me to appreciate the beauty of even the coldest days.  Running became an all-season sport and the thought of it taking place on a treadmill was one that I rarely ever entertained.  Instead of trying to avoid the outdoors, I craved being outside more and more; being unable to get my fresh air fix often resulting in a lingering sense of being unsettl...

If I were to ask you about your day-to-day life, would you describe it as a series of routines or rituals?  From waking up and making your bed to making that first cup of coffee or tea to taking care of your skin, would you categorize these acts as simply the things you do every day, or times in your day that you are devoting to self-care?  And if you were to take a moment to reframe these as rituals of care, would they feel more important or necessary to include in your days? I was listening to a podcast the other day where a coach was discussing training and mindset, and he said that one sure way to beat the New Year slump that so many of us fall into was to change how we view our activities.  He suggested that instead of relegating them to routines performed on autopilot, we would be better off elevating them into ongoing rituals that move us towards overall wellness and fitness.  This really landed with me, as I was knee-deep into a marathon training plan for an ...