After taking a couple of days off last week, I was all ready to go this week.
I had cleared a few days for a client project that got delayed. So I found myself with two and a half unplanned days.
Golden opportunity!
I got off to a great start. Ross and I used some of the time to work on The Arena – zooming out to look at how we can create and generate more value. That part felt great.
But the rest of the week? A bit of a muddle.
Nico has been off school sick. Edie’s been struggling with her first batch of secondary school assessments. Then I tweaked my back during a bodyweight exercise in a Hyrox class. Not bad enough at the time to stop, so I kept going.
By that evening I came to regret that decision. During the night, I regretted it more.
The week that got off to a flyer has had handbrakes, parachutes and anchors dragging out of it since.
What can you do?
Well that’s exactly what I asked myself this afternoon when my daughter wanted to rip my head off.
I was in pain. Edie was feeling the stress of study. Anything I said poured petrol on flames. So we both needed a reset.
We went to the local sauna and ice bath together for the first time.
After a few minutes in the sauna, we approached the ice bath. She was nervously excited.
She said, “I can’t” as she lowered into the ice bath.
“Breathe out slowly,” I told her. “That’s all we can do and it works.”
She did. Two minutes on her first go! Four-degree water.
After another turn in the sauna and the cold-water (four minutes on her second turn), she felt different.
When she came out, her head was clearer, her mood lighter. She was optimistic and felt in control.
Why? She had regulated her nervous system, using nothing but her breath.
What’s more, she recognised and felt the benefits and spoke coherently about them. She had processed the learning in body and mind.
It didn’t last however, this isn’t Disney! Her frustration (with all its emotional cousins and foul-mouthed friends!) returned later at home when the Gaeilge books reemerged.
But that moment earlier was enough. She learnt something about herself, a lot more than her Irish assessment will teach her next week.
After a few more ‘challenging’ moments, Edie sat down later in the evening again. She left Irishto the side and started to study Science instead.
As I type, she has popped in to tell me that she successfully completed a batch of Science tutorials.
She’s finding her own way forward. She’s learning about herself.
It reminded me that not every week is about progress you can see. Nor is it necessarily about the metrics others have set for you.
- Some are about patience.
- Some are about building resilience rather than having answers.
- Some are about holding steady while things realign.
So, if your week feels messy, try to trust that something good might still be forming underneath it all.
Not every step forward looks like momentum. Sometimes it just looks like staying calm, breathing out, and trusting that the long-term play is still unfolding.