Same Sh!t Different Y**r
Aye so it’s 2024 now. Who cares? Somebody maybe.
Since moving to the US (a decade ago in April) it’s been interesting to see the desperate uphill sprint-that-becomes-a-crawl to christmas in the closing months of the year. This was obvious in the UK, but it’s next level bad here.
‘If I can just make it to December 31st, everything will be great(?)’ - is what I assume is going though the mind of folk here. I think part of it is the abysmal treatment of the workforce, with ridiculously few holidays to take per year, resulting in everyone desperately clawing for that recharge that never happens. Nobody gets out of the red, especially in retail.
January hits, people put the fairy lights away and it’s business as usual without seasonal lighting. This month feels brutal. Like actively watching any cosy winter magic and mirth get vacuumed up by a plague ridden Henry hoover but with a sadface.
Books exist though. So that’s good.
My reading list dramatically expanded in 2023 as words, titles, authors and concepts were attached to half-thoughts and hazy ideas that occupied my thinky brain - an unintended-but-welcome side effect of the strength and conditioning program I’m following having galaxy brained coaches.
One such concept is that of ‘Hardiness’, which is made up of the “three C’s” - Commitment, Challenge and Control:
Commitment refers to finding a sense of purpose in whatever we’re doing and being able to hold onto that, even when things are going sideways.
Note here I am saying FINDING a SENSE of purpose. This is probably the crux, and something I struggle with. Finding a way to dress up the mundane or apparently meaningless like it has a point is a skill worth developing. A sense of purpose differs dramatically from the unrealistic nonsense of having a purpose. That shit was invented by the puritans or something. Absolute bollocks.
Control is believing we can influence our life outcomes. The skill here lies in narrowing the scope of what we actually can do, rather than watching what’s outside of our control “happen” to us. Make sense? Once you have a handle on things you can expand out until you’re the president or whatever.
Challenge is a perspective shift from seeing change as a threat, to seeing it as an opportunity to adapt. Embrace and look for new experiences, learn from both positive and negative events.
I hadn’t heard the three C’s mentioned until a few weeks ago, and it blows me away time is spent (wasted?) on perishable, single-use, specific “hard” (don’t get me started on that idiotic term 🙄) skills yet none as far as I can tell is allotted to teaching and developing Hardiness in education or the workplace - something that feels like a core property.
So then, since it’s 2024 - here’s an open invitation to learn more about hardiness for yourself. Perhaps you can even evaluate and develop it this year? Why not.
/EOF
Lore for Today
I typed this bastard out on my phone because my computer battery was dead and I couldn’t be arsed charging it so broken links, typos and whatnot are yiur problem, not mine.