The Modem, The Moment, and The Mind — Part 1
This morning my wife and I were sharing different versions of the same story with each other over breakfast.
We both felt that that ‘gray sky’ Monday morning feeling that visits every now and then — was entirely absent.
We felt alive, incredibly rested, present and excited for the week to come.
Let’s scroll back though for some context…
Just 24 hours prior our internet had crashed and it wasn’t a simple ‘restart the wifi’ situation either. You see, the internet provider’s communication tower was down — impacting 100s of local consumers and businesses too.
To make matters worse, we live in a pretty rural area with limited cell signal, and our TV, landline phones, and certain appliances cannot function without connectivity. To add even more fuel to the fire, today was supposed to be a big workday. One with three important back to back meetings and a client session to boot.
None of those meetings happened.
They all had to be rescheduled.
So why did we feel so good this morning despite not having internet restored?
Why did we roll into this new week with a calm alertness and not a sense of annoyance?
Here’s what I feel;
Yesterday, we were kind of like smokers on a non-stop flight from London to Sydney. There was absolutely no possibility of finding a way to find a way.
The Ireland rugby match could not be viewed. A Sunday Netflix movie was out of the question. As was The Mandalorian on Disney+. Even an online scrabble move against my Mother was an impossibility!
There was nothing we could do about it. Nothing at all.
Yet…
In that space of nothing, we found something.
We found incredible permission.
Permission to pause.
To proceed at a slower pace.
To be present.
To read a good old book — with the crackles of the woodfire as the only background noise.
Permission to fully rest and switch off.
To sleep earlier and to wake up feeling recharged and centered.
It was beautiful how peaceful we both felt this morning, despite the reality of our circumstances. We felt full of creativity, drive, and ready for inspired action too.
As I write this, I still feel it — and I am so grateful for the power of the present.
Key takeaway: Without an exhale, there can be no inhale. I regularly speak with company executives about what I call a ‘Catapult Mindset’ — the idea that we must regularly pullback (rest) to travel far (engage in peak performance). It was a pleasure to be unwittingly compelled to take my own advice!
There’s a Part 2 to this story with a separate takeaway. Watch out for that soon :)
