Your limits are tehre for a reason

Meeting your limits is a humbling experience.

Last week, I spent three days (Tue-Thurs) at an exciting conference. ISS2023 (International Superconductivity Symposium) was held for the first time outside Japan in Wellington.

The leading scientists in superconductivity, material science, and their applications made Tākina, the new conference centre, their base. Discussing these people who push the human race forward with science was a mindblowing experience.

For us, it is healthy to jump to the deep end sometimes. Trying to understand and follow the scientific presentations wasn't an easy task. And I certainly hope our politicians would do it occasionally to keep them more grounded. Instead of slogans, we might then get some sense out of them.

So, I met my intellectual limits very quickly. And it was fun.

Learning new things is addictive, and after the presentations, I tried to dig deeper and understand more. Bless ChatGPT4 for its help in sourcing relevant information I could use when asking for clarification from the researchers. They were generous and helped me to understand more.

Then came the second limit. Three super-intensive days at the conference from 8 am till late took their toll.

On Thursday, I was so exhausted that I slept most of the day and then got a nasty chest infection (not Covid). I still feel dizzy and tired today, but I think I turned the corner.

I was thinking about how, just a few years ago, I was working for an international corporation and was flying weekly from meetings to meetings and from conference to another. The worst ones were the sales conferences in the USA: usually five days, starting with the team breakfast at 7 am and then lasting until late. I developed a deep aversion to Las Vegas and what it stands for.

When you are a frog in the kettle, you don't feel the heat until it is too late. I have seen too many burned-out corporate toads who didn't escape early enough. No money will bring you back your health (both mental and physical) and peace of mind if you play by those corporate rules.

Fortunately, I managed to get out. The meeting merry-go-round I experienced afterwards wasn't anything compared to the international conference hell.

Then, I decided to slow down even more, and now, after about three years as my own boss, I have become more aware of the value of a well-lived life instead of a well-oiled corporate cog.

The infection and fever were a stark reminder that I could not create any value if I exhausted my mental or physical batteries.

I hope you can listen to your body while stretching your mental bandwidth, both in balance. After all, as Nichiren Daishonin wrote in the 13th century: "More valuable than treasures in a storehouse are the treasures of the body, and the treasures of the heart are the most valuable of all". (WND-1, 851).

We can live with less and even have ailing health, but we cannot feel fulfilled and happy without having those treasures of the heart: compassion, wisdom and courage.

I will give myself time to recover and recharge my batteries. The limits I met gave me valuable lessons about the finite time we have in this life and what is the best way to use it.

How many tickets have you still got to your corporate circus? And is the fun worth the consequences?

Ngā mihi

Jussi

This week, not a book but a podcast: Listen to Lisa O'Neill.

I have been a fan of Lisa for a long time. Her message is always clear; her delivery is touching and funny to the point of hysteric laughs. And she swears a lot. 

What could be better? 

Her podcast is filled with gems. She has two types of episodes in it: one for Monday Meetings with herself, where you are invited to listen to her plans for the week and reflections – and then on Fridays, she sends you an episode of observations.

Last Friday, she saved my day with her observations, and one line that still is with me and will be forever is, "You cannot give what you don't have".

Here is the link to her podcast at Apple, and here is her podcast homepage.

The articles from the last week: