The Death of Grind Culture

https://ericfoltin.com/2026/02/24/the-death-of-grind-culture/

Personal Time Isn’t Optional

https://ericfoltin.com/2026/02/12/personal-time-isnt-optional/

We are in our second week of having to come into the office twice per week instead of once. It’s Monday so here I am. At my desk. In the office. Monday feels like a really crappy day to come in, but I need to pick a day to go along with our usual Wednesdays and I don’t want to come in two days in a row and Monday just feels better than Friday so I’m here on Monday. I did Friday last week and the morning commute was all right both days. Friday had the benefit of having far, far fewer people around. Monday has the benefit of getting the second day out of the way really fast. I think we’ll stick with Mondays for now.

My step daughter is flying home tomorrow afternoon. I took the afternoon off so I can get her at the airport. I am thankful to have as much personal time available to me so that I can do stuff like this. It’s a good thing and it makes me happy.

I took a pic this morning. Nothing special but it’s a photo a day challenge kinda thing.

I need a haircut. Did I mention that? Do you care? No? That’s okay. I need a haircut anyway. Just sharing, or maybe just over sharing.

What else… I don’t know. I have a meeting in half an hour. That’s fun, right?

I watched the third episode of The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (aka the Rick and Michonne show). It’s the weakest of the three so far (there are three more coming this season), but it was still pretty good. I am pleased with the season to this point but I am hoping the quality goes back up starting next week. No spoilers. If you like The Walking Dead, you should be watching. That is all.

Jen and I have been watching Star Trek: Lower Decks. I started watching Penny Dreadful the other day. I’m still plowing through The X-Files. I watched the first movie after finishing season five. Tomorrow morning I’ll start season six. I’m getting near to the point where Mulder leaves and that’s going to make it hard to power through. I’ll stick with it though. I promise.

Okay, back to work with you, Robert.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/03/11/office-day-3/

#365 #365Challenge #Airport #commute #es335 #es335Pro #Family #gibsonEs335Pro #GibsonGuitar #hybridWorkSchedul #inTheOffice #lowerDecks #Nikon #nikonZ5 #pennyDreadful #personalTime #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #returnToTheOffice #StarTrek #starTrekLowerDecks #Television #theOnesWhoLive #TheWalkingDead #theWalkingDeadTheOnesWhoLive #theXFiles #theXFiles #timeOffWork #vacationTime #work #z5

My company gives us all 16 hours of personal time each year. They also give us weeks upon weeks of vacation time. The difference is that the personal time is meant to be used in small chunks at short notice, while the vacation time, which they don’t actually call vacation time, can only be used in four or eight hour chunks per day and is supposed to be booked in advance. The other difference is that vacation time can be carried over from this year to next year if needed while the personal time disappears on January 1st.

What does all of this mean? I had five hours of personal time left in the bank and I used it all up today. Robbie will not be having any time vanish on January 1st this year. I started my weekend five hours early, babie!

How did I celebrate this happy surprise of a half day? I ate my lunch too fast and made myself gastric bypass sick, that’s how! Yes! Well played, Robert the putz! I had a hamburger again to have another test of the sugar free ketchup. Yes, it does taste like ketchup and no, it is not disgusting! What a treat! It was such a treat that I ate way too much per bite and plowed through it all way too fast and got something stuck in my stomach tract and had a full on case of the foamies.

I am better now that a couple of hours have gone past. I’m okay!

Happy weekend plus five hours of personal time, everyone! WOOHOO!

https://robertjames1971.blog/2023/11/10/personal-time/

#digestion #gastricBypass #gastricBypassRecovery #gastricBypassSideEffects #halfDay #LongWeekend #personalTime #personalTimeOff #theFoamies #timeOffWork #vacationTime #weightLossSurgery

Can you succeed at work without sacrificing health and life fulfillment? Let's explore how setting boundaries boosts long-term productivity & passion. Time to rethink hustle culture and find joy!

https://abeautifulmess.substack.com/p/work-rest-play-repeat-crafting-a

#WorkLifeBalance #SelfCare #StressManagement #Burnout #DetachFromWork #LeisureTime #CreativeTime #Careers #Productivity #TimeManagement #LifeFulfillment #WorkLifeIntegration #WorkBoundaries #DigitalDetox #RestAndRelaxation #PersonalTime #ABeautifulMess

The hits keep coming, and Annetta is tired...

The Story So Far:

* Mum died six weeks ago, my chest feels right and funny a lot of the time, I'm sleeping in every day, but I'm beginning to make jokes: "Then my mum died unexpectedly. Rude!!" This makes sense if you ever saw us together. We enjoyed gallows humour and the Golden Girls, it was a consistently good aspect of our relationship. Even with the laughing memories, grief at this stage is exhausting.

* Realities of executorship are sinking in - and while I don't resent the job, or want to wriggle out of it, there are times when it's deeply emotional and tough for me. This can be exhausting.

* The man who sexually assaulted me and several other female children is currently in Long Bay, but coming up for parole in November, and the lovely support person gave me a call yesterday as I have the right to a submission (which includes exclusion zones). This is also depleting the few resources I can call on at this time.

Even with decades of therapy, hard work and determination I am so tired of having to deal with painful stuff from the past.

Ultimately this is grief at the pointy end - grief is never in isolation. There's always other stuff demanding our time and attention while we sit and sift through our sorrows, memories and realisations.

If life calls and asks for me over the next few weeks please tell it I'm out and won't be back until next month. Ta.

#GDEP #grief #PersonalTime #exhaustion