T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party in the SQL Community and this month is hosted by Taiob Ali (b | t) and it’s about a topic I could write a lot about because I’ve had to do a lot to be able to cope with the pandemic on three realms mentioned: mental health, physical health, and professional growth. Given that this darn pandemic doesn’t seem be ending anytime soon this is an excellent topic to tackle to everyone can learn and glean from others and put things into practice that may help them.
Mental Health
As many in the community know I suffer from mental health issues, I was diagnosed with bipolar II, PTSD, and generalized anxiety disorder a long time ago, over 15 years ago. Just last December I started presenting on how mental health issues are prevalent in IT in general due to stress, burnout, harassment, and bullying in our work environments. Shameless plus you can catch the newest form of this session at Summit on Thursday at 10:30 AM EST (unless they change the schedule). It also has a recorded version on my presentation page that is older. I recommended attending one virtually so you can ask questions and initiate discussion. It’s when we discuss these mental health openingly that others benefit and take the stigma behind it and make disappear and make as common to take about as diabetes or cancer.
Some things I’ve done to help my mental health (not that it’s been the greatest during the pandemic) is first remember this too shall pass. You can back and read a blog post where I was all over the place worrying about everything in the world. Yes, one day this darn pandemic will gone and the world will return to normal (I hate the term the new norm and refuse to accept it). I’ve also developed closer relationships with several people in the SQL Community that I can talk to when I’m struggling so they can keep me grounded and they can in turn tell me when they are struggling (hopefully, it’s been a good two way street). Also, I think presenting my mental health session has help remind me of all the things I can do to help myself and the fact that others have said it has help them (except the one rude person in Austin) has given me boost to know that other people are struggling and I’m not alone. I’ve learned to put my fears about the future in perspective. I’ve been through a lot in life and came out on the other side, this is just one more thing to go through and persevere (one of my core values). I’ve also continue to do my volunteer work with foster kids, the mental health council, and the SQL Community which goes with my other core value of making a difference.
Due to having existing mental health issues I’ve also had to get adjustment in medications and lean on my therapist for sanity because besides the pandemic, personal issues are never lacking in my life.
I truly encourage to catch my session as it will explain better all the things I incorporate to help with my mental health and other things you may be able to do to help yourself. If you are attending Summit find me if you don’t attend the session and feel free to just talk, I’m open via DMs on Twitter as well.
Physical Health
My physical health hasn’t neither improved or gotten worse. Which is good in away. I’ve gotten lazier (which is worse), I was already working from home before the pandemic, but now I just don’t care about my routines to take care of myself or about what I eat. So I’ve recently started seeing a nutritionist to start getting back on track with healthy eating habits. I’ve started trying to get 10,000 steps in a day, with just taking a break every hour from a my computer and traversing the hallways and stairwells in 4 story apartment building and maybe a 30 minute walk outside. By January, I want to start a program to get ready to run a 5K, only if I can consistently get into walking outdoors 4x a week. Then build back up to a half marathon and back to my original goal of a full marathon for a 45 birthday which may get pushed out due to the pandemic but getting my nutrition back to where it needs to be will help with all these goals.
Professional Growth
I’m really a nerd when it comes to goals. I update a Life Plan** each year, set 10 goals for the year, and use a Full Focus Planner each quarter to help me reach my goals. But the quarter the pandemic hit man the goals just wanted to run and hide and some just could not be completed. So after a few weeks of being like this year is going to suck and be a waste of time, I regrouped and decided on new goals for the ones I could not complete. First up was to write a new tech presentation, which I’ll do another one over Christmas week (yes I know not the way most people would spend a Christmas week off from work). Next up is what did I want to learn for the year, well I needed Kusto for work, so Pluralsight to the rescue, and setting aside an hour a week to learn it which is still something I need to finish. I’ve also added getting Azure certified and learning containers better. So I developed a learning plan for those that I’m slowly going through so I don’t overwhelm myself. But I do have other areas of my life I’m trying to develop as part of this time where I’m spending more time at home.
Summary
In summary, stick to your core values*. Mine are to persevere and to make a difference and hopefully and I can look back at this year and see that I have done that like other years.
*I used Brene Brown’s book Dare to Lead to identify my core values.
**Living Forward is the book I used to make my Life Plan. I even got Andy Leonard a few other people in the community to check it out.
