As a kid I used to believe that wearing rubber bands could drain my blood. If you grew up in Nigeria, this thought might sound familiar as someone older (most likely) probably planted this fear to dissuade you from wearing those large, coloured elastic bands around your wrist. Now that I’m older, I’m aware that rubber bands are not blood-sucking demons, but when tightly worn, they do foster the feeling of numbness around the wrist which is in fact not good for the nerves. So maybe, our folks did have a point after all.
Anyway, I loved rubber bands and pretty much anything elastic because of the snap back effect it had. Don’t ask me why, but I just liked hearing the thwap sound that echoed as a thing returned to its original state.
When I consider the ability of a rubber band to stretch around reasonably bigger objects and snap back into form when taken off, I think about the demands on my mind and body ahead of 2024. As I outlined my goals at the start of the year, I was terrified by my workload. There was little or no wriggle room to push back on some assignments due to the urgency placed on them – by me and external factors. I imagine this is a familiar for most people – everything, everywhere, all at once! Â
Realising that my workload isn’t going anywhere has left me with one thought and a new approach: the need to stretch.
When reflecting on my 2023 and its hectic pacing, I could have sworn that no year will top it. But now that we’re at the end of January 2024, I feel like I’ve run through an entire year in a few days. But still, stretch I must.
So, I have found it useful to categorise my enormous workload based on priorities into the year’s quarter. It doesn’t make the volume of the work reduce, but it makes the process leaner and more efficient. That way, I can look forward to successfully completing a task, reward myself, and feel refreshed to take on the next task.
For all the elasticity of a rubber band, sometimes the stretching reaches its breaking point, and it breaks in two. To avoid reaching our breaking point, we must recognise that we’re limited in physical resource. Also, we should recognise that to remain reasonably productive, it’s important to ruthlessly eliminate activities that drain our bodies and minds with little or no benefit from it. For someone this might look like cutting down on mindlessly scrolling through social media and for another, it might involve some distance away from unprofitable influences. As you clean up your house, there’ll be room for more. It’s only important not to replace one dross with another.
I’m looking forward to stretching and matching the demands ahead of me this year, and it’s a good thing. I hope you do too. But I hope we all remember to be kind to ourselves in the process. Whatever kindness to self looks like for you - be it rewarding yourself with a bar of chocolate, longer Saturday nap, movie night with friends at the end of the week – just do it and thank yourself.
Life is fast, so slow down, stretch and go again.
***
Extra: Are in the mood for a quick read? Check out my post on the nostalgia of ageing here.
This is a good read. I was going through my email updates to look for an interesting news letter and I saw you, my friend. I took a bite and I loved it!
Thank you !!!