“You come on with it, come on
You don't fight fair
But that's okay, see if I care
Knock me down, it's all in vain
I get right back on my feet again
Hit me with your best shot
Why don't you hit me with your best shot
Hit me with your best shot
Fire away”
-Pat Benetar, Hit Me With Your Best Shot (1980)
Welcome to Solo Worklife Meditations. Let's marinate in our relationship with loving our work. If you work alone most of the time and experience that mental chatter that's a little bit too strong because there's nobody to bounce your ideas and stress off of, then you're in the right place.
It doesn't matter if you're a small business owner, solopreneur, digital nomad, remote worker, or content creator, these meditations are made for you. In the next few minutes, we'll focus on disconnecting from our work and the often loud mental chatter that keeps us from being our calmest self.
For this meditation, you can be sitting or lying down, however you feel the most relaxed. Close your eyes if that's comfortable for you. If not, you can stare at something you'd like. In fact, if you want to look at some beautiful nature, feel free to view the image on the YouTube version of this podcast. They will always be soothing nature photos I've taken myself in different locations around the world.
We're unique individuals. Most people spend their lives dreading going to work and living for their off time, for the time that they get to do their stuff that they enjoy. But we, we enjoy our work, and sometimes it can make us feel a bit weird because we're not the norm. But going down that glacier of discomfort with loving our work is more.
There's a fear of loss, just like if you're falling in love with someone. Opening yourself up, making yourself vulnerable, that can lead to pain and loss. And nobody likes pain or loss. Let’s verbally hug this passion and this fear and get rid of all this. We don't need this baggage. It's okay to love your work. You don't need to be scared.
Say it out loud with me a couple of times so your brain absorbs this permission. It's okay to love my work. It's okay to love my work.
What's your body's response to that statement? For me, there's a little bit of a kicking back. I wonder where it falls on you. We want to stay in the moment. We want to enjoy loving our work now, not worrying about the future.
So let's put our attention in the spot that you feel is the tightest in your body. Focus these words and kind of send them to that part of your body. It's okay to love my work.
These words need help being absorbed into our body, so let's say the phrase a few more times. Focus on the body part that is the most tense when you say it. It's okay to love my work. It's okay to love my work. It's okay to love my work.
Did the tension ease up at all? If not, don't worry. We're going to marinate in this idea a few other ways in this meditation as well as we always do.
Let's shift over to our breath. Now let's inhale for six and immediately exhale for six. Like this. 1-2-3-4-5-6 one more time 1-2-3-4-5-6.
Love and loss are companions. We can't really have one without the other, and that's what makes the fear of loving something very real. You know that at some point there will be most likely a loss. But we need to stay in the moment. We need to enjoy the parts that we can and rest up emotionally so that we have something to help us exist in the discomfort of the losses that come.
As we wrap up this meditation, we're going to work on our hands because holding on to something too much can create pain in and of itself. Let's clench our hands for six. So just hold and squeeze for six, release and just feel the energy exit your body for six, squeeze. 1-2-3-4-5-6, release 1-2-3-4-5-6.
Do your hands tingle when you release? Mine are kind of pulsing a little bit from letting go. If not, don't worry. Sometimes it takes time to learn how to release our grip, physically and otherwise.
Clenching and releasing are both useful opposite actions, much like love and loss. Neither is good or bad, they just are. We don't have to fear loss or other discomfort.
We just need to learn how to sit in them and not think of them before they happen. Pre-stress does not help us.
Remember, as you go back to work, remind yourself occasionally it's okay to love your work, that enjoyment does not have to be paired with fear of the future. If you closed your eyes, go ahead and open them. Maybe even shake out your arms a little bit to let that release go up into your shoulders.
I want to thank you for joining me for this meditation. What we're doing is not easy. Releasing tension from our mind, body, and soul is very difficult.
If there's any aspect of solo worklife that you'd like me to focus on in one of these episodes, let me know. I'm a remote worker, too. I work from home by myself. All of these thoughts and these meditations come from my own brain blockades, so I get it. I understand the things that you be talking about. Solowworklifemeditations.substack.com is where you can sign up for the newsletter as well as contact me and let me know your topic ideas. Okay, get back to work now. (((laughter)))