Winter Isn’t Everyone’s Season
I know that quite a few out there are probably enjoying the winter seasonal break as much as I am. My thoughts are with you and I empathise.
There are days when it’s too wet and cold to do your leisure thing. It might be hiking, gardening, pottering around in the shed or your workshop in the back of your unheated detached two-car garage. You have company for the holidays, so your spare bedroom crafting space is now someone else’s domain for a few days. The gloom makes your window seat too dull for fine needlecraft.
What can you do? Retreat into your laptop and engineer!
If only they’d let you.
Not Everyone Fits the Season
A lot of us don’t quite fit in with this holiday season.
It could be that your introvert nature does not appreciate the enforced social nature of company parties, family gatherings, and overcrowded shops. It could be SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder); I know I do better with bluer skies and longer days. There are so many of us who have lost loved ones this time of year, and so many who are losing loved ones. Christmas comes with “ghosts”, memories to taunt and haunt us.
If this is not your peak season, you are not alone. You are allowed to feel that way. There are others that understand, and stand by you. We’ll soon be out of it.
Two Days Wedged Between Work Pressures
I’m an engineer, and our company is observing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year.
I’m not in the consumer products industry and am not awaiting a mass of bug reports, or stressing over getting the product ready for CES. I’m glad I’ve stepped away from that pace. Summer ruined by meeting delivery dates to get on Best Buy’s shelves, fall spoiled by getting the dot release out for Black Friday, spring pressures of “Dad’s and Grad’s” special products.
I know some of you are in CX (Customer Experience / Support / Advocacy) and are steeling yourselves knowing tomorrow – the great unboxing of Black Friday purchases – will mean hours of frustrated giftees trying to get through an OTA (Over The Air Update) or registration.
In a non-engineering blog, I’d acknowledge retail, catering (my dad’s family business), and essential support and care industries, too.
This year I do have a January release looming, and the usual last-minute SNAFUs (Situation Normal All [Messed] Up) to face. I was on a roll Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Now I have to take two days of downtime which I could be using to move the project forward.
I know what you’re going to say; it sounds like I need to take a chill pill. I know I do. The thing is, it takes me several days before I’m not waking up and thinking in code almost immediately.
A quick look online shows a variety of articles saying you need four to eight days before you fully disconnect. So you can see why I’m humbugging my two days.
If I Knew the Solution…
I know there are all manner of ways to deal with this, but we are all wired differently. I know my happy places.
I love spending my downtime doing practical things that are not related to engineering. I love messing around with wood. I’m a Maker at heart, but with pretty low-volume output. I like making dioramas for N-scale, or 28 mm wargaming tables (but I don’t really enjoy the gaming). I like fixing things in the house.
I like getting out into the mountains or the coastline. I actually found I also like it out in the desert.
Days like today I get restless and frustrated. One thing I could do, I am not allowed to do. Work. It’s an observed holiday, not one I can flex and get a lieu day for after the project is gone.
There’s a World Outside Your Window
To quote an old Christmas song.
Have a look around you. Do you notice someone in your circle who seems a bit down, or just absent at the moment?
I kind of dropped out of social media this last year, and before that I dropped out of my physical-world social circle while caring for a relative. Reconnecting is hard, but I’ve had a few friends who have done simple things like tagging me on a post they know I’ll get a kick out of, or re-sharing an old Facebook post with a comment pulling me back into the fray.
It’s true: just a smile, a nod, or a hello can help. I exchanged cheery greetings with the lobby ambassadors in an adjacent business, and within a month I actually had a stronger social connection with them than I have with some of my fellow employees. Crazy, innit.
Seasons Greetings
Whoever you are, and however you celebrate, relax, or stress through this season, I wish you health and happiness.
Glorified Plumbing 