mixed feelings

One of my favorite things a friend, colleague and coach, Ann Fry, told me recently was that I can love my work and still feel tired. Her precise words were, "There are a lot of things you love about your job.  But it still makes you tired." I realized that I often am exhausted and make myself (and the job) wrong for that.  The truth is, I'm just tired.  I am incredibly productive and it's reasonable to be tired at the end of the day and especially at the end of the week!

This maps onto pretty much everything you're committed to:  you can love your kids and still be incensed by their behavior or you can adore your partner and still wanna strangle him occasionally.  This thought isn't new, but it's helped me in a fresh way to examine the times when I feel really exhausted or angry.  One great emotional intelligence strategy is to "never trust a bad mood" because a bad mood, much like a good mood, passes like the weather.  Be genuinely aware of the specific source of whatever feelings you're experiencing; it can be liberating. "I'm tired because I've been going non-stop since 7 AM" feels a lot better to me than "I'm tired and I can't keep doing this job," for instance.  It allows me to make different choices, like maybe go home a little earlier or take up a more energizing task.

I wish I could credit the author of this note, which I found in a collection of favorite images, so if someone knows the source, I'd be grateful for the information.  It magically and warmly captures my thinking on these issues.