Keep. Showing. Up.

Coach Sue here for a pep talk to help you keep showing up for yourself. It can’t just be me hitting the dark, cold weather doldrums, right?

Things had really been cooking along with my writing for the last few months. 

  • I have been showing up regularly in weekly essays on my website,
  • My book proposal is ready for an editor,
  • A friend of mine started a weekly writing “support group,”
  • A few more creative opportunities are in the works for later this month, and
  • I found a writing group that meets monthly at my local library. 

It felt like the universe was conspiring to support me as a writer and creative human. The wind was at my back – full steam ahead. 

Then I turned the page of the calendar and it seemed like the wheels fell off the Writing Bus. 

  • The editor I had a get-to-know-you call with this morning no showed. 
  • I was the only person who showed up for the library group (which turned out to be for fiction writers anyway).
  • The other editor I interviewed is out of my price range.

Pep Talk Section

The pep rally starts here.

I bring you all of this today as an example of life on life’s terms. While I don’t believe that we should always try to cram that square peg into a round hole, I do believe that what we want takes work, patience, and creative problem solving

Maybe my message needs refining before getting to an editor. Perhaps giving feedback on other writers’ work is not where the universe wants me to focus right now. Am I not getting book traction because I am supposed to focus on a more verbal medium?

I don’t know. 

As a revering control freak and people pleaser, it is REALLY hard to say that. I just don’t have an answer. Sometimes Usually my time is not the universe’s time. I feel impatient that “it” (whatever “it” is) is taking months – this seems like forever in my 48 year old life. But in the scheme of the expansive universe over millennia of time, months is a drop in the bucket. 

What I do know for sure is that creativity and sharing words in any format feels like the right thing for today. And science tells us repetition yields results. So I will keep showing up – and I hope you do too. 

I will leave you with these poetic words that expresses my sentiment in 35 words when I it took me 10 times longer. 

4 Immutable Laws of the Spirit

Whoever is present are the right people.

Whenever it begins is the right time.

Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened.

When it’s over, it’s over.

— Harrison Owen

Sustainable You Reflections

  • What in your life feels like rolling a boulder uphill these days?
  • Have you truly been showing up consistently related to this boulder? Is there a way you need to change how you are showing up – more attention, less control, different activities? 

It might be hard to see where you need help with that boulder or how you can show up differently. Creative problem solving sometimes needs an accountability buddy. If you need help find me on social media or send me a message to Susan@SustainableSue.com. I would be glad to help you work on it!

Until next time –

By |2023-02-04T14:50:30-05:00February 14th, 2023|Habit Change|0 Comments

Stress, Evolution, and Burnout

Stress has always been a part of our lives – since the beginning of time. How we have handled it has changed, leading us to the breaking point we live in today. The pace of life is no longer sustainable and we are avoiding addressing the elephant in the living room – our response to the pressure. Stressors will never go away, the problem is in how we manage it. In this episode you will learn about how stress affected our ancestors and how it affects us today then you can learn a few tips and tricks for coping with stressors that will inevitably come into our lives.

Links mentioned in the stress and Sustainable Productivity episode:

By |2023-02-09T16:12:49-05:00February 10th, 2023|Show Notes|0 Comments

Fullest Expression or Sustainably Productive Expression?

“Fullest expression” is a phrase that they use a lot in my yoga classes. “Should” is not a word permitted in the studio. Instead of blahblah-asana being a pose where you should have your arms wrapped around your legs while balancing on your head, the instructor coaches us that pretzel is the fullest expression and we can also just do arms or incorporate the head stand part if it feels right today. 

Which is a relief because there is one thing this old bod is not doing these days and it is fullest expression of anything upside down. 

Full expression and well, my expression. If this doesn’t clarify the difference, I am not sure what else to do.

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of fullest expression lately as things are getting shuffled around in my life. Nothing major just projects that require a some small adjustments to logistics. 

Fullest Expression Off the Mat

A few balls have gotten dropped, and I am definitely out of my routines. Which often leads me to less than Sustainably Productive thinking. Here is what that might sound like:

  • What is wrong with me – normally I have my writing done by now.
  • I should be able to do all three things. 
  • Other people manage a lot more than this, why can’t I?

I feel my attention being fractured as I spend several hours each day continually bouncing around. The context shifting is exhausting. By the end of the day my fullest expression is the fetal position under a blanket clutching the remote. I know my habits and routines bring relief to this pinging around, but I feel like there is not enough time or I should be doing something else. If I can’t do the whole routine, I do nothing. 

For example, I recently got up later than usual and skipped morning reading and journaling before going to exercise. I felt like I had been shot out of a cannon all day. It was like I was living on 1.5 speed instead of the normal pace of life. Everything felt out of synch. 

I wonder if you might have days like this too? 

Real Life Look In

What if we do a small part of each bits of our routine? If we cannot do the whole enchilada, maybe we can have small bites of it. Here is what it might look like as it relates to my morning on ramp:

Fullest Expression

Journaling: 15 minutes

Personal Development, Daily Devotional Reading: 20 minutes

Meditation: 20 minutes

Stretch: 6 minutes

Sustainable Productivity Expression

Journaling: 5 minutes

Reading: 5 minutes

Meditation: 1 minute

Doing a truncated version of the routine is better than chucking the whole thing and shoulding on myself all day. This is different than a routine not working. This is for a day the alarm didn’t go off. Or you have to catch a flight. Or a kid woke up sick. 

Showing up for yourself consistently – even if it is not the fullest expression – can continue to keep that fly wheel of habit change turning.  

Sustainable You Questions

  1. Do you have a day in the next week where you know you need an abbreviated version of your routine?
  2. How can you plan now for what that shortened window can be used in a Sustainably Productive way?

It can be hard to reframe fullest expression to Sustainable Productivity Expression. If you need help find me on social media or send me a message to Susan@SustainableSue.com. I would be glad to help you work on it!

Until next time –

By |2023-02-03T19:38:24-05:00February 7th, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

My Mom Was Right

There is nothing an adult woman hates to admit more than this – my mom was right. 

Perhaps I can only admit this now that she died, which was almost three years to the day that this weekly essay is going out. Needless to say she has been on my mind a lot in the last few weeks. 

One of the things my mom always told us was, “When in doubt… Don’t.”

  • Iffy about that skirt I was trying on during back to school shopping?
    • When in doubt… Don’t.
  • Unsure about accepting the invitation to the party?
    • When in doubt… Don’t.
  • Afraid of crossing that empty parking lot in the dark?
    • When in doubt… Don’t.

What makes so much sense now drove me bat shit crazy when I was a teenager. No one wanted clothes to fit her more than 6 foot tall 15-year old Sue. Pants were too short, all sleeves were jersey length, shoes for my boat-sized feet might as well have come from Dorothy Zbornak‘s closet. 

I knew I was not comfortable in these clothes, but I wanted to fit in so badly. Then came The Phrase: When in doubt… don’t. 

I knew those Guess jeans were going back on the rack for a shorter girl to buy later. 

But Today Sue has been in my mom’s shoes (proverbially, I could not fit in her stylish shoes either). I know what regret can do. I know my mom was right when she encouraged a moment of pause before making a bad decision. 

The Pause

There is so much power in that pause. 

The pause can be a moment. For example, the moment in an argument when it goes off the rails. You know, when “you did not put your plate in the dishwasher” becomes “I do everything around here!”

The pause can be silence after no thank you. As in a response to that weird feeling when a stranger at a bar hands you a drink you didn’t ask for. Or something that seems more benign like an invitation to join a committee or volunteer program.

Stop talking. Pause. Because see, no is a complete sentence. That pause is where you used to fill in nonsense syllables because you felt like you had to fill the air. 

The pause can be more final than that – a decision of no when it is not a HELL YES. 

I know it will feel weird. But weird is just another feeling.

The Weird

Whenever you start to do something different, it will feel weird.

  • Learning to shoot with my left hand felt weird when I was 10. 
  • Lessons behind the manual transmission car felt weird when I was 16.
  • Becoming a step mother at 34 was a step beyond weird (I still often look for the parent in the room before realizing it is me).
  • Learning to live without alcohol when I was 43 – definitely weird. 
  • Saying no thank you <<PAUSE FOR SILENCE>> now that I am 48 is weird. 

If you can get through the weird, you will find that it fades pretty quickly. Science tells us that emotions that go uninterrupted by thoughts will fade after about 90 seconds. 

Ninety seconds. Maybe we could amend what my mom said to this:

When in doubt don’t. Then count to 90. 

You might just be amazed at what comes your way when you stop chasing what you give a doubtful yes. 

Sustainable You Questions

  1. Reflect on last week or notice this week if you give doubtful yes answer. 
  2. Where did the doubt come from? 
  3. Why did you feel you could not say no?

If this weekly essay resonated with you, please share it with a friend. I am trying to grow Sustainable Sue and spread the ideas of Sustainable Productivity. The best way to do that is for you to share with someone you know. 

Until next time –

By |2023-01-31T07:14:26-05:00January 31st, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

Ask the Right Questions

It is not enough to just ask questions, we need to ask the right questions. The questions that might need a pause before answering or that you might still be thinking about later. The questions that might make you change your mind. 

Let’s break down why it is important to ask the right questions. 

Example One

Here is a recent scene in our house. Bixby and I were trying to figure out when we would go for our lunch break walk. This is a common mid day reprieve that can happen anywhere between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm, depending on when we have meetings and such. This particular day it was raining on and off so we were planning around Mother Nature instead of Captain Calendars. 

Sue: Alexa, what is the weather?

Alexa: blah blah blah 60 degrees blah blah blah

It was super unhelpful and did not answer the question.

Bixby is freakishly good at the “ask the right question” concept.

Bixby: Alexa, when will it stop raining?

Alexa: The rain should stop in Greensboro at 11:45 am. 

Out the door we went. Boom, ask the right question. 

Example Two

One of my Sustainable Sue goals for this year is to write for an editor. Sure, I edit before hitting publish on the weekly essay, but I am not an editor. One of the best ways to improve writing is to write for an editor. So I have been searching for calls for submissions for various publications. 

My initial Google search, “Calls for submissions” resulted in 250 MILLION results. This was a smidge time prohibitive to sift through. I decided to try again with a better search question, “Calls for submissions burnout 2023”. 

Result: 488,000. This was much more manageable. 

It is important to ask the right question, but maybe you are seeking clarity on why to ask at all. I would like to gently suggest that if you think you are too busy to stop and ask questions – right or otherwise – you might be the prime candidate to do specifically that: pause and ask. 

Why Ask At All?

Curiosity is one of my core values and this often results in the question WHY (or its often more cutting cousin WHY NOT). I want to help you understand why it is important to ask questions at all and especially to try to get to ask the right questions. Engaging in your life means that you are not numbly plodding along doing what you have always done. Sure, routine is important – but even routines get refreshed now and again (if they are Sustainably Productive routines). 

If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.

My favorite question at this point is this: How is that working for you?

If it gives you the lift you need, ask why this is working for you or how you can get more of it. 

If it is working like dragging an anchor through the desert, ask yourself:

  • Is this me being busy and feeling important or me being busy and getting the important things done?
  • Am I tired from getting things done or context shifting between tasks?
  • Do I resent others not showing up for myself because I am not showing up for me? 
  • Are my hateful feelings because they are taking care of themselves when I don’t seem to be able to get to do that?
  • What is keeping me from showing up for myself and taking care of me?
  • Is what I am telling myself true?

Is this me being busy and feeling important or me being busy and getting the important things done?

  1. Am I tired from getting things done or context shifting between tasks?
  2. Do I resent others not showing up for myself because I am not showing up for me? 

Sustainable You Questions

I want to acknowledge that these questions can feel like a roundhouse kick in the gut. Maybe you are reading this message in the car pool lane or while waiting for take out – inopportune times to reflect to say the least. I have put these questions into a freebie that you can download here for you to take to your journal, your therapist, your personal Board of Directors, your partner, your best friend or your Higher Power. Just because something feels unanswerable does not make it wrong. And just because you are skimming along ok on the surface does not make it right. 

It might just be the fact you have not asked the right questions yet. 

If this weekly essay resonated with you, please share it with a friend. I am trying to grow Sustainable Sue and spread the ideas of Sustainable Productivity. The best way to do that is for you to share with someone you know. 

Until next time –

By |2023-01-17T18:55:50-05:00January 24th, 2023|Sustainable Productivity|0 Comments

Why I Don’t Track Phone Usage

People are surprised to learn that don’t track phone usage. We are still in January – the month that has 8,064 days in it. Many of those days we are bombarded with messages that we need to change just about everything about our lives in order to become a better person. 

One of those hot resolution topics is how much we are on our phones. I have zero interest in this goal during this season of my life. 

I was working on some digital clean up and found the setting on my phone where it outlined how much time I spent using my phone. On my Android phone it is called, “Digital wellbeing and parental controls.” This title really caught my eye because digital clutter is a component of Environmental Surroundings – one of the three pillars of Sustainable Productivity. 

So I tiptoed into this section with more than a small amount of hesitancy – it can be hard to have your habits shown to you in cold hard data. But alas, what is measured is managed so in I went.

Result

There was no “MOVE THAT BUS” big reveal. It was pretty much what I expected with a few pleasant surprises added in. 

The truth is I use my phone a lot. But it is used for good as much as it is used for evil. Of the time spent that day, there was a greater percentage of time spent to support positive habits and activities. Here are a few examples:

Supporting Good Habits

  • Audiobook apps: I listen to audiobooks while walking the dog, doing my physical therapy exercises, folding laundry, driving, and more. 
  • Spotify: While writing I need some ambient noise and instrumental playlists on Spotify provide this. 
  • Timehop: As part of my morning routine I look through Timehop to see what this day in history brought me (plus a little trivia). I often share the photos that come up with the people in them. It is fun to share with the kids and it often spurs conversation about what was happening in the memories. 
  • Alexa / Google Home: Each day Bixby and I use the Jeopardy skill to play our daily “J!6” over breakfast. Although it is still surprising to hear Mayim Byalik instead of Alex Trebek, it is a fun ritual we have over breakfast every day. 

Productivity

  • Apple Music: Sometimes while drafting spreadsheets, closing support tickets, and updating meeting notes for my day job I just need a little hype to get moving. My “Mix Tape” playlist on my phone provides this.
  • Clock: I use timers, alarms, and stopwatch features all day long. Timers to write or stretch for a certain amount of time. I have been using the stopwatch to time manuscripts I’m writing for YouTube videos. Alarms are set to put the laundry in the dryer or leave on time to get to the class at the quilt shop.
  • Reminders: This is another feature that I could not be Sustainable Sue without. I don’t want to keep stuff in my head any more. I set a reminder to floss and do my gratitude journal at night. Other reminders nudge me for several activities for my elderly dad throughout the week. The “set it and forget it” approach clears space in my brain for creativity instead of the invisible work life gifts us. 

Social Media

Let’s talk about the elephant in the living room. I do use social media for more than just posting for Sustainable Sue business. I consume it as well. But I am clear about my purpose when I am opening these apps: mainly entertainment,  connection, distraction. I know very clearly that when I am wading into Twitter at the end of a long day that I am just going for the train wreck. No one is more delighted than me to hang up from a contentious phone call at my day job and scroll Instagram Reels looking for videos of pandas somersaulting down a snowy hill. 

Sometimes I catch myself just scrolling for the sake of scrolling – sometimes our thumbs have a mind of their own, right!? When I notice, I acknowledge (not shame) and close the app. 

Sustainable You Questions

I share all of this to float the idea that just because others preach social media breaks and analog living, does not mean that you have to. You get to decide what is best for you. In order to do that you need to be aware. I encourage you to apply the Sustainable Productivity questions to your phone use. 

  1. Is it productive – are you getting the result you want?
  2. Is it sustainable – can you continue this pace lifelong if you choose?

Based on the answers to these questions you can start to make small adjustments to those habits. Connect with me directly to learn more about how to do that or let me know how your phone usage is impacting your life. 

If this weekly essay resonated with you, please share it with a friend. I am trying to grow Sustainable Sue and spread the ideas of Sustainable Productivity. The best way to do that is for you to share with someone you know. 

Until next time –

By |2023-01-11T07:51:27-05:00January 17th, 2023|Environmental Surroundings|0 Comments

Year End Review

A year end review is weirdly fun for me as a project manager and productivity coach. There is a project management principle that what gets measured gets managed. I have been tracking habits on a plain old Excel file for five years now. It is interesting to see trends, think back to big milestones that impacted the totals, and consider where I need to make changes (or not!).

Here is a sneak peek into part of that review. 

Health & Fitness

Goal: My intention was to do more to improve my chances of being able to exercise in my 80s. 

Action plan: More physical therapy (PT) exercise, more yoga, improved eating habits

Highlights

Walking: 446 miles (12% increase over 2021)

Biking: 1581 miles (123% increase over 2021)

Yoga: 33 hours (6% increase over 2021)

Reflections

I did not track it in a way I can report here, but my eating habits improved greatly. I reduced by ice cream intake about 90% and with the magic smoothie you have heard about I was able to average about 5 servings of vegetables and fruits each day. These changes greatly continued to almost 30 pound weight loss in 2022. This in turn made it less painful to walk so the miles there got a bump.

Adjustments

I sort of cheated on this one and have started already. As the weather got colder I was cycling less so I decided to add a second day of hot yoga to my routine. I want to keep doing this even when I ramp my cycling mileage back up.

Mental Well-being

Goal: My intention was grow my connection with my higher power and show up consistently for my writing. 

Action plan: Writing most days of the week, increase time spent meditating, morning reading more days than not.

Highlights

Meditation: 2986 minutes (98% increase from 2021)

On ramp: 202 days completed (33% increase from 2021)

Books: 221 started, 190 finished (~10% DNF rate) Note: a full book recap will be coming 

Joined Genay as cohost of the Conscious Contact Podcast

Started year four of Sustainable Sue

Began drafting a book proposal

Started a new volunteer gig at a book garage sponsored by a local church

Reflections

This SusPro pillar sure grew a lot last year! I was very intentional about adding things because I wanted to honor the sustainability part of life. No sense taking on so many things that nothing is fulfilling anymore. Averaging an hour each week in the book garage is sustainable. Working on the book proposal 90 minutes once per week is sustainable. Breaking large goals into small, repeatable steps is the key.

Adjustments

Continue the above, plus add new goal of building a YouTube channel. Here is how I break down this big goal into small, repeatable steps:

Brain dump of all my initial thoughts around this task

Sorted brain dump into Trello

Scheduled time for weekly deep work dedicated to this goal one day a week

Environmental Surroundings

Goal: My intention was to be able to find what I need without hassle and be comfortable in my surroundings 

Action plan: Get rid of stuff I don’t use, need or love

Highlights

Clear digital clutter: 2 sessions (89% LESS than 2021)

Reflections

Womp, wommmmmp. I did not do well here at all. Even though I said this was important, I did not make time for it. I regularly cleared my photos off my phone and backed them up, but the amount of screen shots and random photos of things I want to do, read, or follow up on is out of control. The old system was not working for me at all. 

Adjustments

I revamped my digital clean up checklist and set a reminder on my phone to follow the checklist on Monday and Thursday evenings. So far into 2023 I am 100% compliant. Celebrate the small victories, friends!

Sustainable You Questions

Even if you did not formally track habits or progress, there is still value in conducting a year end review. Take time and ask yourself these questions:

  1. What worked and why? How can I get more of whatever made that work?
  2. What did not work and why? What needs to happen to minimize that in 2023?

If this weekly essay resonated with you, please share it with a friend. I am trying to grow Sustainable Sue and spread the ideas of Sustainable Productivity. The best way to do that is for you to share with someone you know. 

Pace yourself, friends –

By |2023-01-10T07:26:06-05:00January 10th, 2023|Habit Change|0 Comments

Non-Resolution Resolutions

I am a sucker for a trend and for DECADES I set loads of New Year’s resolutions. And to be honest – they worked for a long time. Until they didn’t.

Now I embrace the trend that is the Word of the Year. This is more than a New Year’s Resolution. This is a lifestyle change – or it least it can be. I have used Peace, Lifelong and Wear Life Like a Loose Garment (ok, that is six words, but you get the idea). 

This year my word is EQUANIMITY. 

This is a little difference from balance, which feels like having yin over here and yang over there. Life does not seem to be giving me much separation lately. I parent adult children and I am an adult child that sometimes parents a parent. Anyone in corporate America can attest to the Slack messages flying in during a meeting while you are on do not disturb, emails that come at all hours of the day and night. I have given up the struggle for balance. 

Instead I want equanimity. This is partly inspired by the yoga classes I do a couple times a week. There is a section called equanimity. I struggle with balancing on one foot, then she suggests closing the eyes. 

But one day she said, “This is what equanimity is about. Knowing falling is part of what you are supposed to do because that means you are alive. Being ok with the mess in the middle of the work.”

Equanimity, y’all. It’s where its at for me in 2023. 

What about you? Did you pick a word? 

By |2023-01-02T17:44:53-05:00January 3rd, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Good Enough

The phrase “good enough” was playing through my mind recently as I was thinking about what happened this year in the garden and started planning for next spring. 

The weeds runneth over. No plants provided veggies, flowers, or fruit that did not get consumed by deer, rabbits, or other creatures before harvest. But I did enjoy the puttering around I did this season. It was good enough. And this reminds me of this quote by Thomas Fuller:

“A good garden may have some weeds.”

Thomas Fuller

I wonder if there are wider implications this could have for all areas of life.

Wider Implications

Are there things in your life that are good enough? Functional – but have a few things wrong with it?

  • Are you healthy and fit, but perhaps softer in spots that you would like? 
  • Maybe for all intents and purposes your house is organized and decluttered, but you do have that 1 drawer in each bathroom. 

Don’t trip over a dollar trying to get to a nickel. Enjoy that 80% of your world is fundamentally sound. Let the rest fall by the wayside or use them for a different lesson or purpose. For example, I repurpose cardboard trash to cover weeds, then top with rotting leaves from somewhere else in the garden. The end result is making the garden more beautiful. Today it isn’t beautiful, but it is good enough.

Can your mess be your message? Inviting a child to sort through the junk drawer with you can be a lesson in decluttering – why it is important and how to actually do it. Or the lesson might be about your relationship. They might see you as perfect so this exercise could be a revelation to them that you have random junk that you can’t decide on. What if you sharing an area of your life that is good enough opens doors to more authentic connections?

Sustainable You Questions

  1. What area of life or task feels like a drag for you? How could you define what “good enough” would be?
  2. What is your resistance to embracing the concept of “good enough?”
By |2022-12-13T19:31:18-05:00December 20th, 2022|Mental Well-being|0 Comments

Managing External Expectations

Fun fact – Internal and External Expectations was supposed to be one post. But it got really long and I could not figure out what exactly to say about managing external expectations by my deadline to get the weekly essay posted so here we are with Managing External Expectations, Part 2. Use this link to check out the first installment, Managing Internal Expectations.

Clearly I am talking to myself mostly as I try to figure this out. You are getting a front row seat to me trying to figure this out. It might not be pretty.

Giphy comes through again.

Sure I want to just not deal with people, but that is not practical or healthy. Healthy relationships are a component of the Mental Well-being dimension of Sustainable Productivity. Living with loneliness has a greater negative impact to health than living with air pollution, obesity, and excessive drinking (Holt-Lunstad, et al, 2010). 

So here we are needing to learn about managing expectations. The ideal way to do this is to talk about it before whatever the “it” is happens. 

But did you catch the first part? The IDEAL way. This is great when I am spiritually fit and able to communicate this way. The REAL way this happens is a little more chaotic and I usually end up having to clean up a mess after the fact. Yep, more of that Ideal and Real, but this time we are considering the other party that we are interacting with. As wonderful as my husband is, he is not Ideal. He is a quirky, faulted human being that I love dearly. And my kids have undeveloped frontal lobes – its not their fault either. 

That is a roundabout way to saying that shit gets messy sometimes at the homestead. Let me share a simple tool that is currently working for me when it comes to managing external expectations.

The Magic Words

Ok, not those magic words. But something that is working for me right now is to start a tough-for-me conversation with this phrase:

“The story I am telling myself…”

This lightens the tone and avoids any accusation. Here are a few examples:

  • “Here is the story I am telling myself about you handing me my Christmas present still in the Target bag: I am a last minute thought for you since you don’t care enough to wrap the gift – or even stick it in a gift bag.”
  • “Do you have a second for me to share the story I am telling myself about you not emptying the dishwasher? I tell myself that when you know I want it done and you don’t do it, you are disrespecting my authority as a parent and you don’t care about contributing to the house.”

In the context of this discussion about managing expectations, let’s be clear that in both of these situations, exactly zero expectations were shared. I did not tell Bixby that I would like my presents wrapped. He does not care about receiving his gifts wrapped and does not know how to wrap presents. And about that dishwasher – no teenager is looking for chores to do around the house or even thinking that the dishwasher might have a deeper meaning.

But having a common language of, “the story I am telling myself” allows for a Sustainably Productive conversation. It is productive because it does not start with accusations and “aways / never” statements. I am talking about the next layer – what it means to me. It is sustainable because I can continue it lifelong. I feel safe enough to do it over and over – it is based on a loving interaction.

I hope this offers you a tool to use in your relationships. Let me know either way if you try it or if you take a moment to answer the Sustainable You questions that follow.

Sustainable You Questions

  1. After an honest, authentic assessment, do you think you are managing external expectations well?
  2. What would it feel like to user the opener, “The story I am telling myself is…”?

I wonder if this essay would be a good opener for a discussion with your loved one about managing external expectations. If this weekly essay resonated with you, please share it with a friend. I am trying to grow Sustainable Sue and spread the ideas of Sustainable Productivity. The best way to do that is for you to share with someone you know. I am ever grateful.

By |2022-12-06T09:12:16-05:00December 13th, 2022|Mental Well-being|0 Comments
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