I wonder if it’s possible to manually turn your thought process on and off? I spent the entire weekend not thinking about my businesses because I’ve mentally detached myself from them. Why couldn’t I do that when I was engaged with the companies?
This weekend was rather interesting…My hubby was away and I had my daughter, S, for two full days. You might think that’s no big deal, but I’m the worker in our household. I’m use to waking S up, giving her food and then going off to work to support the family.
Staying home alone with a 15 month old for two whole days is hard freakin’ work! I seriously don’t know how single mums or dads do it.
Right…It’s not the first time that I’ve looked after S for a couple days, however it’s the first time that I was fully present while looking after. There’s a big difference between thinking about work while playing with a child and simply playing with a child for the sake of playing!
I can’t help but think, ‘what the heck have I been doing all these years?’ My thoughts have been so far removed from my live life. What I mean is that I’ve been going through the motions of looking after S (amongst other things) but not being present.
What a tragic mistake! All I can say is thankfully I’ve discovered my wrong thinking now and not when I’m 80.
Anyway, now that I’ve made the clear decision to leave my companies I don’t have the constant thoughts flooding my head. I don’t have to worry about an employee that I need to dismiss or a boring drawn out management meeting or having to come up with some sort of strategy to get buy-in over something.
So…throughout the weekend I kept feeling this odd sensation – it’s as if my brain was telling me, ‘Kim…you should be thinking about the businesses…oh yeah – you don’t need to think about them. Carry on enjoying what you are doing.’
It’s like entering summer break after leaving university. You have this overwhelming urge to get your homework done and then you realise that there is no more homework.
Fortunately, I was able to be present and blow bubbles (and help pop them), read ‘The Ladybird that never said a word,’ (8 times), squeeze myself into an indoor kiddie playground (with S and 15 other toddlers), have a water war in the tub (I won), and see who would win a very important race – Thomas The Tank Engine vs The Bus (Thomas won).
Additionally, for the first time in 14 years I went to lunch with my father-in-law. We had a great time – surprise, surprise!
What the heck is going on? I feel like I’m in some sort of matrix type thing where I took the red pill rather than the blue pill. It’s like I’ve woken up from a bad dream to find that life and the journey is incredible…but it’s only incredible if you brain & heart are at the same place at the same time.
So, I’ll ask the question again, is it possible to manually turn your thought process on and off? Going forward, how can I ensure I don’t get caught up in work so much that I miss the present?
