Connection

I started my Monday finishing the book while girls had breakfast. I couldn’t put it down until I finished. Sally is a really good writer. This book has some similarity to Normal People, there is a scene that featured in the series. This is ultimately a love story but the ending is super good. I will definitely read anything that Sally writes.

It felt luxurious to start a monday finishing a love novel, really. It felt like an extension of the weekend/vacation instead of usual Monday rush . Maybe I should start everyday with some reading?

This is Valentines week, our building decorated it with flowers, hearts, super cute. I love when we live to the season/festival, it feels special when we intentionally make it special.

I got to the office and started right away with a new task. While I was having a meeting, I saw a colleague that I haven’t seen in person since the start of pandemic, almost a year ago. I used to just invited myself to his office, sit and start to chat about anything that comes to mind. I really missed that spontaneous connection. After I finished my meeting, i went to look for him. I grabbed a chair and sit outside his office and declared we would do a social distancing catch up. We chatted about his life during the pandemic. It turned out it didn’t go as well, his hair turned white (literally), as he craved connection with nature and people. He used to bike and camp every weekend and he was deprived with that, causing mental health issues. I felt bad for him but reminded again that many people really suffered during the pandemic. Then we chatted about my new projects. Before he left the office, he came to my office and said he will starting to come to office once a week, that coming to office and chatting with me do him good, now he feels excited about work again. That was so nice to hear. 

I also had face-to-face chat with my boss, again a great chat preparing for our meeting and new priorities. He’s so inspiring and I am privileged to be the closest person to him in the office. 

Lastly, I sent a text to an old colleague friend, we had a wonderful work trip to Ecuador in which we really bounded. She is currently in Poland so she texted me back when she woke up. I was going to ask her about work but then I asked her if she wanted to chat just to catch up. We talked over the phone for 40 min, first time since 2017. it was wonderful! 

I left the office feeling super excited and fulfilled with the amount of 1-to-1 connections I had with my colleague friends. I personally don’t like work meetings but I always feel more energised when I have 1-to-1 meetings with my favourite colleague friends. We might not be real life friends for long term, but our shared mission and passion for our work connect us while we are together and I am so grateful for this kind of connection. 

A wonderful start of the week! 😆