Daily writing prompt

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?

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You want my number one priority for tomorrow? It’s only 6:18am right now, you don’t want my priority for today? Okay… I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Maybe I’ll give both.

My number one priority for tomorrow, Tuesday October 3, 2023, partially depends on what happens today. First and foremost must be to no longer have Covid-19. I am planning on testing today, but as soon as I made that decision I sneezed so… yeah. Other top priorities for tomorrow include doing whatever needs to be done to help any of my customers that might need help, closing my activity watch rings and hitting my food and water goals for the day. Fun stuff like that.

My number one priority for the coming day is to take that Covid-19 home test that I mentioned and have it be negative. I am positive I will achieve the first piece of that goal, but also pretty sure I will not achieve the second piece. Other goals include restarting my exercise routine again, hopefully without completely wiping myself out with Covid-19 fatigue symptoms. As soon as I publish this post I am going to have a faux run (running in place, or jogging in place which I pronounce yogging, with a soft J). I haven’t done this routine in two weeks, thanks Covid, so I am a little nervous, but here goes. Also, goals for today include all of the helping customers stuff I mentioned as goals for tomorrow. That’s pretty important.

Okay, so the prompt asked for tomorrow’s priority and I gave today and tomorrow. Two priorities for the price of one! You’re welcome, internets!

Daily writing prompt

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?

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Hard work is fulfilling. Does there need to be more explanation than that?

For me, the biggest rush in my job comes from problem solving. A customer has an issue with their system. It’s something that we haven’t seen before. We dig into the data. We dig into the code. We step through the customer’s workflow. We follow the progression of the system. We find an inconsistency or a bug or something that needs to be enhanced. We tell the customer what’s going on and what they can do to get around it. We let Development know about it and make a suggestion on how to change the code.

A situation like that, solving a problem… it just feels good. Really good. Would I call it fulfilling? That seems a little strong, but I guess it fits. Maybe if you squint a little or look at it over time and see a trend. I don’t know. I just know I enjoy that and love how I feel when it happens.

It’s different than the feeling you get when you do some physical task around the house or something, but it’s good enough for me and my little brain and my heart and what passes for a soul.

Daily writing prompt

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

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I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I have decided that I am not going to come up with a serious answer. No, that would require more self reflection than I am comfortable with. You’ll get an answer, and it’s an honest answer, but it’s also a smart ass, sarcastic answer. I don’t do the whole self analysis thing very well. I go looking for positives and find an infinite number of negatives and I end up depressed and miserable and I just don’t want to go there today. No thank you.

Back in my Community College days I took an intro to psychology class and I learned a little factoid that turned my brain upside down and, unfortunately, confirmed a suspicion that I always had about myself. The factoid is that people who suffer from depression often have an accurate view of themselves, while people who don’t suffer from depression often have too rosy a view of themselves. They see themselves as better or more important than they actually are. I had always thought that was the case, but to read exactly that in a psych textbook blew my tiny little mind in a way that I had never imagined. It seemed to confirm why I was always so depressed.

So what is a trait that I value about myself? I am really, really tall. Six feet, four inches tall. Almost but not quite two meters. I can always reach the top shelf. I totally value my height. It’s one of my best traits.

There. I answered your damn question. Let’s all move on with our lives now.