Data entry is the comfort blanket of admin work
I found last week very hard.
World events + pandemic + personal things I have going on = uneasy, anxious feelings.
It was a back to work week like no other. For so many people there wasn’t any work to go back to. For others it marked a return to the kitchen table come desk. Or it was back to hitting refresh on a job search.
And all the while the horrors of the world continue to play in the background on our screens, apps and mind.
And we’re expected to carry on? Not ever having processed grief or trauma or fear on this scale before, at exactly the same time as the rest of the world?
I couldn’t focus. I wanted to. I had intentions. I had goals. Positive visualisations of a new working routine. I didn’t follow through with anything.
I sat with my feelings. It felt good. It felt like they would last forever, but it was important for me to sit with them.
I wanted to sit with these feelings for longer, turn a duvet day into a duvet week, but I had a work meeting to attend. And then I had some work that I needed to do.
When I feel vulnerable or low and I still have a work day to get through, I relish the chance to do monotonous tasks. I enjoy the tasks that require repetition, an order and structure which doesn’t require mega amounts of brain power, just a little bit of concentration to get me into a flow state.
A task so simple and so boring that the chaos of the world (and of my own thoughts) simply can’t penetrate through.
For me, these mundane and monotonous tasks provide comfort, stability and understanding. And perhaps, to some extent, control.
Entering data into a spreadsheet. Copying and pasting from one document to another. Organising folders. Sweet relief. Ah yes. I know how this works.
Sometimes work can be a pleasant distraction. Sometimes it’s an avoidance technique. Yet, last week, those monotonous tasks became my comfort blanket.
Takeaways
📺 Hello, My Twenties I’m watching this series for the first time and am really enjoying it. Perfect for some afternoon tv.
📓 Bullet journal templates: I was today year’s old when I discovered that some of those fancy, impossibly neat and creative bujo patterns are stencils! Not everyone who keeps a bujo is an incredibly perfect artist…stencils, who knew?! (everyone else apparently 😂)
🚶🏾♀️ Walkie Talkie Buddy: I read about this recently - can’t remember where. It’s not related to the walkie talkie app, but the idea is:
two friends go for a walk at the exact same time and they chat on the phone for about 20 - 30 min or so, checking in, setting their intentions and goals for the day, and seeing if there’s anything they’d like the other person to hold them accountable for.
Seems like it would be good for gentle early morning starts. I’m trying this out with a pal this week and I’m looking forward to it.
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