I was at a loooong meeting at work today. It's important to clarify that I was really enjoying the meeting...but, if you've read this blog long enough, I'm sure you know what's coming next: I always have a hard time sitting still for a long time, and this very productive, valuable and really inspiring meeting was 5 hours long.
At a certain point I had to start finding strategies for either keeping still/paying attention while in my seat, or simply giving myself acceptable reasons to get up and move around.
I do this thing sometimes, where I just rotate my ankle. You can do it under the table, it's not noisy, and I enjoy feeling my brain shift from white noise to comprehension of the conversation at hand, as I begin to circle my foot. It's literally like flipping a switch and suddenly I'm enjoying the conversation because I can HEAR it! And follow it!
Opening and closing my pen cap was another good one (it's a quiet cap).
My other strategy may have been less, um...grown up, but it helped: I kept getting up to go grab a cookie off of the plate of cookies on the other side of the room. I was able to move in a direction that wasn't disruptive to the conversation...I ate about...5 of them? (Large ones...) And 3 brownies. This strategy might not be the best for everyone but I still have weight to gain back after my Christmas-era explosion of illness. I knew I'd gone beyond the realm of normal cookie consumption however when the Executive Assistant happened to be at the table with me and said, with a genuine smile "you CANNOT eat more of those cookies". I took one more. And I know how I roll, I know that when my brain is in that mode, I'm going to hear more and be a more productive participant if I can get up and move around.
And MMMMMMM cookies! (I have no shame...)
At a certain point I had to start finding strategies for either keeping still/paying attention while in my seat, or simply giving myself acceptable reasons to get up and move around.
I do this thing sometimes, where I just rotate my ankle. You can do it under the table, it's not noisy, and I enjoy feeling my brain shift from white noise to comprehension of the conversation at hand, as I begin to circle my foot. It's literally like flipping a switch and suddenly I'm enjoying the conversation because I can HEAR it! And follow it!
Opening and closing my pen cap was another good one (it's a quiet cap).
My other strategy may have been less, um...grown up, but it helped: I kept getting up to go grab a cookie off of the plate of cookies on the other side of the room. I was able to move in a direction that wasn't disruptive to the conversation...I ate about...5 of them? (Large ones...) And 3 brownies. This strategy might not be the best for everyone but I still have weight to gain back after my Christmas-era explosion of illness. I knew I'd gone beyond the realm of normal cookie consumption however when the Executive Assistant happened to be at the table with me and said, with a genuine smile "you CANNOT eat more of those cookies". I took one more. And I know how I roll, I know that when my brain is in that mode, I'm going to hear more and be a more productive participant if I can get up and move around.
And MMMMMMM cookies! (I have no shame...)
lol. I just aviod meetings that are more than 30mins long.
ReplyDeleteA FIVE-HOUR meeting? Good grief!
ReplyDeleteIf I didn't have an e-x-p-a-n-d-a-b-l-e stomach...I'm not sure how I'd make it through long meetings...family get-togethers...etc. (Of course...I've gained and lost the same 20 pounds many times over.)
ReplyDeleteMaybe a squishy ball might be good in those meetings? You could always say you need it to exercise your hand from all the typing at the computer.
Haha, right (I found it! I found it!)...the key here was less the cookies and more the getting up to walk around the room. I can't help wondering if the psychologist that was moderating this meeting was curious at any point about my frequent motion...lol, probably not but I felt conspicuous even though I was trying not to be!
ReplyDelete