Hello Friends!
Having a long weekend last weekend was fabulous, wasn’t it? Just what was needed. Hope it felt that way for you too. In fact, I took most of last week off as it was the school holidays here. And boy, did I relax!! I even managed to devour an entire tome of historical fiction – nothing better than having time to really dive into a book and travel at least in your mind!
And despite the freak snowstorms we’ve been having this week, it does feel like spring is in the air. There are the first buds on the trees, and the cherry trees are even already blossoming!
That spring atmosphere really makes me think of change and growth, and that’s the topic for this week’s newsletter: Growth & Change.
PODCASTS…
Arianna Huffington interviewing Adam Grant on the topic of Rethinking was so interesting. Lots of thought-provoking sound bites. This one in particular caught my attention: “Many people chase status and achievement, because progress is easy to measure. The games that count the most – like generosity, like the joy of giving are the hardest to count.”
And as we live in a world where everything is quantifiable and measured – particularly now we all have smart phones, smart watches, and smart devices in our home – it is easy to lean towards prioritizing those things which we can quantify, rather than those things that are actually making us better, happier, healthier people!
I also really enjoyed this podcast interviewing author (and my former classmate!) Kate Hilton. Her thoughts on change and growth were so eloquent and profound. “The fear of what that cost [of change] might be prevents us from taking some of the risks and doing some of the growth that would make our lives much richer.”
Although the topic of the podcast was around divorce, the discussion was a really interesting dive into the dynamics around change and how personal growth alters other aspects of our lives.
Und diese Woche gibt’s auch eine deutsche Podcast-Empfehlung! Eines der Themen, das im Zusammenhang mit Wachstum immer wieder auftaucht, ist die Fähigkeit, Grenzen zu setzen. Dies war ein easy Podcast rund um dieses Thema, der Dir gefallen könnte.
ARTICLES...
Often one of the biggest hurdles to change and growth is us. Our Inner Critic does a great job of convincing us that growth is a terrible idea and that making changes would be detrimental to our survival. This article on Taming your Inner Critic has some good advice!
Zoom meetings have become so pervasive that we no longer even consciously register how unnatural it is to be confined to a Zoom window and no body language all day every day. This article on Zoom Fatigue and solutions really reminded me of how taxing it can be to spend all day online. I liked that the article focused on the four main reasons why Zoom can be/is so taxing, and on solutions for that. #4 particularly resonated with me: the cognitive load is much higher in video chats. I’ll be trying to put some of the suggested solutions into action!
WHAT I HAVE BEEN READING...
The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz is a neat twist on the traditional detective story. One of the protagonists is the author himself! He has written a couple of murder mysteries based on the investigations of a fictional detective, Daniel Hawthorne. Fictional Hawthorne convinces an author – the real Anthony Horowitz – to shadow him and his work, in order to write a book about him. It’s quite a clever idea and I like that Horowitz does not make himself into an unflawed character. Quite enjoyable.
Letzte Woche hatte ich die Gelegenheit, viel Zeit mit der Nase tief in einem Buch zu verbringen. Das Salz der Erde hatte ich mir für genau eine solche Opportunity aufgehoben. Und es hat mich nicht enttäuscht! Kopfkino pur!! Es war eine Flucht in eine andere Welt und eine andere Zeit: Oberlothringen im Jahr 1193, um genau zu sein. 😉 Eine mitreißende, epische Geschichte von Michel de Fleury und seinen Kämpfen, in unsicheren Zeiten eine Familie und eine Kaufmannsimperium aufzubauen. Reichhaltige und fesselnde Geschichte. Definitiv alle 1140 Seiten wert! Ich werde definitiv Band 2 lesen, wenn ich das nächste Mal Urlaub habe!
Personal growth and change is one of my favourite topics so this might be something I return to in future epistles. So please do let me know what you like, what you don’t like, and what you’d like to see more of!
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Have a wonderful weekend! Until next time!
Hugs,
