Hi First name / there!
Thank you to everyone who responded to last month's newsletter. I had some really lovely chats, and it turns out a lot of us are feeling the same thing. 🩷
It was a little vulnerable to send that one out. I tend to keep things positive and upbeat here, but it felt important to be honest, and I had a feeling some of you would relate. Turns out I was right, and it was nice to know none of us are alone in it.
I took a week off, planned around my cousin's wedding, and it ended up being exactly the reset I needed. Coming back, I felt more motivated, but also more aware of just how fast everything has been moving lately. There's been a lot of overwhelm, and it's been bumping up against something I've always believed in: slow and steady. Just showing up, doing the work, staying consistent, even on the days that aren't exciting, and letting it all snowball. I needed the reminder that this still holds true, even when the outside world feels like it's shouting louder than that quiet voice.
Part of that overwhelm, I think, comes down to analog versus digital. My work life is entirely digital (I don't mind that, I've built good systems and I'm pretty organized there), but I realized my personal life needed to go the other way. Yes, I know "going analog" is a trend I keep seeing on Instagram, which is a little ironic given where I saw it lol 😅 I've been reading more, working on cross-stitch projects, and getting outside more now that it's summer.
I've always had strict boundaries around work hours: once I'm off, I'm off, no email on my phone, work only happens at my desk. But my personal life was more scattered, with notes on scraps of paper and half-finished lists across different apps. So I picked up a journal to keep myself organized, and I've been using Do Not Disturb and the Downtime feature to cut back on Instagram. It's working. I checked, and I'm spending more time reading than scrolling now, which feels like a win.
I think it all comes down to being more intentional with where I spend my time and attention, because things have gotten overwhelming. Someone described AI as a "moving target" recently, and that stuck with me. I've always known that working in tech means things shift and evolve, and I'd have to shift with them. But AI has been moving so fast, it's hard to know where to even focus. I'm trying to stay open to it, open to learning something new if it makes sense, but I don't want to feel like I have to learn everything right now. For now, I'm just staying in my little corner of the internet, keeping an eye on what's changing, and paying attention without the pressure to do it all.
