The Recap

Here I am, once again having neglected my blog. I’ve let a busy work schedule and procrastination keep me from spending time with this thing that I really love. Since I’ve missed a few months of posts – I’m going to recap my Word of the Month for the months I’ve missed.

March: Release

When I set this word of the month vision for the year, I predicted that by March there would be things I’d need to let go of. I wasn’t sure at the time what that would be, but as the year unfolded I realized it wasn’t so much that I needed to release anything, it was that I needed to redirect. For the past few years, I’ve worked in environments that are challenging from a relationship management perspective, but I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new. I spent a lot of time last year creating work for myself and I realized toward the end of March that I wasn’t fulfilled by that work because it wasn’t mentally stimulating. Don’t get me wrong; there are aspects of my job that I love – particularly when something I create teaches someone something new, or offers them a different perspective on a topic. Aside from navigating organizational politics, my intellect hasn’t been stretched in the way that it was in previous roles. Never one to ‘coast’, I decided to enroll in a certificate program at Harvard Business School Online. Now I have something to do in the evenings besides watch television and slowly descend into madness at the state of the world.

April: Cleanse

While March wrapped up beautifully, April came on with a vengeance. For three years I had managed to avoid The Great Virus of 2019, but alas, on a trip to Seattle, The Covid accompanied me home. This wasn’t quite the cleanse I was looking for when I set out on this journey in January (you have to be specific with your asks of the universe, fam!) I’m actually grateful for the experience though. By all standards, I had a mild case, although there were moments in that six-day journey that I thought the fatigue and brain fog would be permanent and I’d never be able to carry on a conversation for more than 10 minutes.

Covid forced me to do two things though: slow down and rest, which I desperately needed, and reflect on all of the many blessings of my life. While my immune system was creating antibodies, I was tracking milestones that we take for granted:

Sitting at my desk all day without needing to lay down
Walking up the stairs without dizziness
Working out for more than 10 minutes at a time
Having a coherent conversation that didn’t feel strained

It was a minor setback in the grand scheme of life and it reminded me to appreciate my health and all of the amazing things my body can do. I ended up finishing the month on track with my workouts, and I haven’t looked back.

May: Create

I’m sure you can imagine how well this went given that it’s been three months since I posted. My original intention was to pour into the creative space – via my blog and putting some effort into my book.

Instead I did some brainstorming on various ways I can get more eyes on my content, and how I might deliver messages differently. The current technology landscape is very interesting; multiple people have suggested I use ChatGPT to craft my blogs and IDK, I guess I struggle with giving up that much control. Yes, I have to proofread and ultimately determine what to post – but it still somehow feels like cheating.

I did; however, dive into the world of AI to generate new headshots which was a very interesting and entertaining experience. I used https://www.tryitonai.com, where I uploaded several selfies; the algorithm worked it’s magic overnight and I woke up to ~75 images in different outfits, with various hairstyles and overall looks. Some of them look passably like me, others are clearly artificially generated. I did manage to get a few images that I’ve used for LinkedIn and other professional profiles.

Passably me!
Seriously, who’s this??
IDK who she is but I’d vote for her in an election!
This makes me want to cut my hair again.
Me if I was a descendent of Gloria Estefan lol

All in all, it’s been a blessed few months. This month’s word is Explore! Since I work from home, I end up spending way too much time in the house so I’m on a mission to get out more – to force myself out of my routine, and see the outdoors (oppressive Austin heat, aside). More to come on that (I PROMISE in a more timely manner).

Until then, now is a great time to reflect on the first half of the year. What have you accomplished? What do you still have left on your list? Attack it fam! I know I am 🙂