"Originals"

It's been a really shitty week.  Even my super chipper and extroverted co-worker said it was "draining."

Yesterday, 2 things helped. 

I went to the gym for a Vinyasa Yoga class.  My body does not feel quite as out-of-sorts.  I feel more balanced and grounded. 

I discovered my next book for pleasure reading: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant (Sheryl Sandberg's co-author in Option B: Facing Adversity, Building resilience, and Finding Joy).

Already, it's been a pleasure to read. 

From the first chapter on my Kindle:

"Having a sense of security in one realm gives us the freedom to be original in another."  Apparently, some of the biggest breaks by creative people came when they were locked into less fulfilling day jobs.  This is interesting, because "common sense suggests that creative accomplishments can't flourish without big windows of time and energy, and companies can't thrive without intensive effort."

If I am going to stay at my current job for one more year, I thought to myself the other day, I'm going to have to talk to my headmaster about things I want and don't want to do.  Interestingly, the book mentions a project at Google that helped employees see that they had more control over their work lives than they'd assumed, inspiring them with "examples of people becoming the architects of their own jobs, customizing their tasks and relationships to better align with their interests, skills, and values."  This is encouraging!