Eustress, Biodomes, The Good Life

Let's try and do a short post. It's already Monday, and tomorrow I plunge back into seeing clients and doing case notes. I've also started to study for the NCMHCE exam, which I'll have to pass to get licensed and be able to continue practicing, after I graduate. I don't think I'm doing too bad, I took some practice tests, but I'm slow, and my performance was all over the place. So: time to study and do practice tests. Ah well. I did it before to get licensed as a teacher, I can do some test prep again. Not the most difficult thing, but time consuming.

My birthday continues to approach. I've got a bunch of ideas for my birthday party, but I am coming to realize I won't have much time to actually prepare for it, so I need to pare back on my preparations and plans. Story of my life, these days.

I'm coming to the realization that for me, 'the good life' = having time to focus deeply on projects and do them well, plus enough stretch to make me put in good effort.

By streatch, I mean the concept that you want your goals to be doable, but a stretch. If they are unrealistic, that can be discouraging, but also if they are too easy, it leads to not putting in as much effort, and then you don't feel as good about what you did. There is a psychological term 'eustress' which means good stress. That is this concept. Having some challenge in life is a good thing, it spurs growth. Like lifting heavy weights. If you only lift weights that are easy for you, you won't get any stronger. And you might not even maintain your fitness. We are creatures of adaptation, and if we don't have difficulty to adapt to, we get weak.

I always think about the biodome trees: trees that were grown under a big biodome, they never had wind that tried to blow them over, so eventually they would grow to tall and just topple over, because their root system was too shallow. No wind to fight against, getting their roots to grow deep.

But you want to find the right balance. Too much, and you injure yourself, or burn out.

OK, back to work (but I guess not for too long, so I can go to bed early. There's that balance again.