The Atlas

My knee-jerk reaction has always been to balk at the idea of routine. Just as a concept, it sounds so conformist -- something 180 degrees from the way in which I like to think of myself -- that I have historically resisted the idea that I was better off with them. But both science and age/experience have gradually convinced me. And on Sunday night, I was listening to a conversation about the mental health challenges people are facing as a result of Covid-19, and the topic of routines came up again.

Instead of our standard weekly Coaching Mystery Box, today Lawrence and I discussed some of the things we are seeing emerge as considerations for a world struggling to find some version of normal with Covid-19 still unchecked, States starting to re-open and more than 36MM unemployed Americans as of early-May 2020.

Throughout her work, Brene Brown often makes a distinction between having a attitude and having a practice when it comes to something -- gratitude, authenticity, etc. The example she cites is yoga: She has yoga pants and a yoga mat, which may mean she can claim a yoga attitude, but she doesn't actually have a yoga practice. There is a difference.

Today we had a guest, John Ehmann, who is getting ready to begin his coaching training to start doing executive coaching. So today the Mystery Box was all John's, as he asked us questions, and we had a conversation about tool, approaches and things to consider when getting involved with the profession.

Who knew a puppy was not only the cure to feeling lonely working at home during the day, but also to working on my mindfulness practice?

In this episode, I raised the question of ASKING FOR HELP. What does it mean? What does it take? And -- in classic Grow or Die fashion -- we ended up covering a ton of ground: gender norms, making friends as adults, romantic partners, and more.

Last week I found myself profoundly disappointed by how someone chose to behave. This was someone I respected and who had a great deal of influence in my daily life; I had held him in high esteem and felt confident in his integrity. His behavior was not only a shock to my system, but it felt like a betrayal of my judgement and the trust that had been placed in him -- by both myself and others.

In this week's episode, we address the question of how do we honor the small things? Particularly in this time of chaos and anxiety, what can we do to help cultivate the resilience we need by acknowledging and appreciating the things we have in our life.