When to Pause

There is a lot of sports happening right now, you may have heard. One of the things that fascinates me about sports is about how it ties into our hustle culture. How, you get injured, but are praised for working through it. How we don't just reward going fast or high or far, but going beyond what your body says.

Studies show that taking a break actually helps you work better. There are days when you cannot push through, cannot go farther. 

And creative pursuits can be like that to. Showing up counts for a lot. There are days I thought I didn't really want to write, but I did. There are days when I thought I wanted to write and yet got very little. But showing up helped because the focus on the story let me figure out why I was stuck. Or at least figure out that mt characters were stuck so I could work on figuring out why.

But there are also days I just can't. Whether I have a headache, or a lack of energy, or something else. And the trick is learning when to push, and when to go get cookies and come back another day. 

Three Interesting Things

1. The summer olympics are on, and you may have heard it's very hot on the northern hemisphere.  This article looks at how athletes are strategizing heat. 

2.  People are taking their cats out on leashes.  (My cat has said, absolutely not.  But yay for other cats.)

3. Apparently out of office messages are getting some new style. 

Too Much of a Good Thing

I listened to a podcast about hydration, and one of the guests mentioned that over-hydration has similar symptoms as under or dehydration. I take several medications that cause dehydration, so try to hydrate, but of course just like watering plants, it's a delicate balance.

I should note, I once killed a cactus. 

It does seem silly of the human body to reuse the same symptoms. After all, how can you troubleshoot if the results aren't same?

In some ways, hydration becomes like other things, something you need to be aware of. But spending too much time worrying over it, is likely to stress you out.

But if someone would invent those little soil moisture monitors for humans, that would be very helpful.

Three Interesting Things

1. So, climate change is making days ever so slightly longer. 

2. A friend pointed me to this story from earlier this year, about a generation of woman named Connie. 

3. And someone pointed me to this artist who makes incredibly realistic embroidery.

Backup Skills

Some of the newer metro trains in DC, have a digital map, that updates to show the next station, and the next few after that. They are positioned in the middle of the train, so are visible from much of the train. The trains, even the older ones, have an automated voice announcement, so there are other ways to figure out where the train is, short of memorizing stops. 

Now, I started using this system as a tween. There were announcements, but they were not reliably loud or clear enough in the train car you were on. So I got used to looking out the window at stops and finding the helpfully large signs in the station so I could make sure I hadn't missed my stop. Didn't always work - sometimes I was at a really good part of the book and missed a few stops - but at least meant I usually noticed soon.  

One day, I was on one of the newer trains, and I heard an announcement for a stop that I thought we had already been too. And I had that did I go the wrong way panic moment. I looked up at the automated display. And then I looked out the window. And I realized the automated display was three stops behind. So then I just kept reading the signs at each stop.

A few stops later I heard someone behind me say, "Oh the announcement is saying the wrong stop." And the person next to me bolted up and went, "Crap, I missed my stop!" and raced off the train. 

Now this is not a don't rely on automated systems rant. This is not even an I am smarter rant. The point I am going for is that this was easy for me to solve, because I didn't grow up with the automated option. I had a backup already. 

Whereas people who grew up able to google things, able to rely on the automated announcement, then have to build a backup on the fly when that option fails them. 

In retrospect, I wish I had said aloud that the automated announcement was wrong, so that more people on the train would have had more time to correct. It was silly of me to assume everyone else had already solved the problem. And if they had, my announcing still would have hurt nothing. 

But as we watch sites that used to be reliable disappear or get taken over by inaccurate AI posts, we will all need to work on sharing our plans for figuring things out. 

Three Interesting Things

1. Maggie Tokuda-Hall shared the speech she gave at the Minidoka Pilgrimage. 

2. Nicolas Cage, who starred in a movie about a book by Susan Orlean, was interviewed by Susan Orlean, and they had a fascinating conversation. 

3. I really enjoyed this interview with drag queen Pattie Gonia about making being outdoorsy more inclusive. 

One Million Steps

My day job does things like team walking challenges, and I have mixed feelings about them. But they are good about adding alternative options like, read a chapter of a book, or eat lunch without looking at your phone. 

And so they sent out an email saying we had all walked a million steps. And as things like Romancing the Vote wrapped up, they had similarly reminded us that yes, some items went for thousands of dollars. But the bulk of their total was made up of 5 and 10 and 25 items. 

And all of this is a reminder that things that need to be done or changed or fixed happen in small steps, happen often when we team up with others and work to make things happen. 

That the seemingly big changes, are just lots of little changes adding up. 

Oh, it turns out writing is like that too. 

Bid for Voting Rights

Hey all, it's a short week in the US and also Romancing the Vote. I donated a handknit shawl that I think is pretty cool: https://www.32auctions.com/organizations/74830/auctions/164081/auction_items/5470656

There are so many great items. Many are available to non-USians. And there are a ton of things (maybe even a few by me) set to drop during the auction.

If you can bid, please do. If you cannot, please spread the word. 

And after we raise money, lets hope we all get a little rest in this week.