Vol. 46 Thursday Third Things ☕
Burnout, Boredom & the Art of Overbooking Myself
For the newbies — welcome to The Third Thing! Every (most) Thursdays I send out a “Thursday Third Things” email full of things I’m reading, thinking about, listening to, watching, and sometimes buying. Enjoy!
Greetings friends,
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur (hence a little silence over here at The Third Thing). First, I was in Boulder hosting a retreat for the day job comms team (i.e. a staff of three juggling the workload of five or six people). Fundamentally, it was fantastic. We talked openly. We accomplished a lot. We brainstormed solutions to systemic workplace problems (my favorite kind of work). We talked about why we love protecting public lands and what got us into this work in the first place (my second-favorite kind of work).
It was also a massive act of emotional labor. By Thursday, when everyone else had flown home, I stared dead-eyed into the void of my friend’s guest bedroom, somehow feeling everything and nothing simultaneously. By Friday, I was only just peeking out of my self-created over-socialized wreckage. By Saturday morning I was on a plane to Mexico (more to come on this trip, including a post for paid subscribers tomorrow).
No rest for the weary. And god was I weary.
I have a habit of packing exciting things together. I deliberately set the dates for this retreat so that I could easily fly out of Denver for this trip to Cozumel. In my mind, this was extremely smart planning. In reality, it was so exhausting that I thought my body might melt into a puddle of jell-o. I have a tendency to cycle through boredom, mashing a million things together, burning out, promising myself I will never do that again, getting back into boredom, and starting the entire cycle all over. (Let the record show it was also incredibly brutal to return to the U.S. the week of the Trump inauguration, especially given my line of work.)
In just this first quarter of the year, I’ve managed to pack in a trip to Mexico, a weekend getaway in Silverton, a work trip to Alaska, a liveaboard dive trip in the Bahamas, aiding the open water dive course at Colorado Mesa University, and completing my advanced dive course. All of that will wrap by March 31 which is a mere eight weeks away.
Nearly all of this travel stemmed from a couple of weeks of boredom in October and November after I realized I had no other plans for the rest of the year.
To be fair, I love being busy. I find it incredibly difficult to write when I haven’t gotten out of the house and actually found something to write about. I love to put myself on the edge of discomfort because it has allowed my comfort zone to grow exponentially. Meaning the more and more I push that edge, the more comfort I actually end up with (this is why I greatly dislike the “be gentle on yourself” movement).
But oh, sweet Anja, you MUST find better balance.
Please tell me all about your trips and adventures and plans and ALSO how you balance the beautiful rituals of being home with the uncomfortable edge of being elsewhere.
Catch you on the flippity flip.
P.S. Sorry I’m a little light on the recs this week. I’m grateful to say I did not engage with any media except the New York Times puzzle games while on ✨vacation✨
—Losing It on Live TV
—It’s official: Research has found that libraries make everything better
—Departing the New York Times
—The Anti-Social Century
—Trump Supporters Are Getting Deported By Trump
—Lush is quitting social media. The start of a trend? (This is older [2021] but I just learned about it!)
—Is the Internet Making Us Stupid?
—Wolfs: This movie featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt was the exact kind of dark humor I needed
—Growing Up Richard Simmons from Maintenace Phase (Okay, I gotta tell you, I only listened to this because it autoplayed after I finished a different podcast and I was elbows deep in laundry and didn’t have the energy to go find my phone and put on something else and honestly thank god because this was SO GOOD.)
—What’s It Like to Fly When You’re Fat from Search Engine
—Try a Little Tenderness from This American Life
—Are Men Okay from The Gray Area