Hard Things

[ysabetwordsmith]

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Comments

[stardust_rifle]

Figured out how to extract .rar files so that I may progress further with my data hoarding aspirations.

Go you!

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a worthy accomplishment. I like datahoarders.

[siliconshaman]

Well, we've now got the solar panels installed, and the scaffolding is gone...and now I get to clear up the house and garden. Think spring cleaning, on steroids. Plus I've a ton of repairs and upgrades that I've been putting off over winter. (S.A.D sucks, but at least I get a few good months.)

Oh.. joy.

But I am making forward progress.

[labelleizzy]

I have a list as long as my arm of the house repairs and updates that need done, and a much shorter list of the people I need to call to try and get on their work schedule.

I need to borrow a cup of executive function from somewhere...

[siliconshaman]

Well, don't look at me... I've got exactly one brain-cell and it's seriously overclocked trying to keep up with everything I'm doing!

[labelleizzy]

Hah, fair enough. No imposition intended.

I need an icon for house 🏠 related things hmmmm

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here are some resources about executive function:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/executive-function

https://goodsensorylearning.com/pages/12-strategies-to-improve-executive-functions

Among the things that I find most helpful:

* Cognitive offloading saves valuable brainspace by using tools to keep track of things for you. I keep a kitchen timer on my desk so I don't have to track things like "Take a 10-minute break, then do more yardening." Using lists like you mentioned above makes it much easier to track what you need to do and what you have completed.

* Brain foods ensure that your body has all the raw materials it needs to make neurochemicals. They also boost mood and energy. Yogurt and fresh fruit are summer favorites for me. When I feel tired and unfocused, something cold and wet will usually help. In cold weather, I typically go for hot drinks or things with warming spices such as ginger cookies.

* Chunking breaks down large tasks into smaller tasks. It also makes a long string of things easier to remember (which is one reason why telephone numbers have breaks).

* Meditation can improve most mental skills. There are many versions to explore.

* Some folks love doing puzzles, brainteasers, etc. which improve executive functions related to memory and problem-solving.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yay, solar panels!

Re: Thoughts

[siliconshaman]

Very over-spec'ed solar panels, so most of the year we'll be exporting power to the grid and getting paid for it! It was completely over-cast yesterday, and we still made more power than we used. (albeit, by only 0.2Kw)

Cost 11k but worth it (and it was money up front so no loans to pay off.)

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

That's a great situation.

Re: Thoughts

[siliconshaman]

Part of my 'shelter in place' plan.

Re: Thoughts

[crunchysteve]

"LovelyLinda" and I got solar last year, along with a heat pump hot water cylinder and heat pump ducted heating, both replacing gas. Small roof, but still managing to export to the grid, even on the cold sunny days. Best investment we ever made for "Panama, where the whole world smells of barbecues." (Our little home.) You won't know yourself! Especially over summer.

Re: Thoughts

[siliconshaman]

I did think about going down the heat pump route but basically we ran out of places on the outside walls we could put a system.

I know it probably seems contradictory, but I actually prefer our coal fired heating system... with the insulation we have, we need it for maybe three or four weeks out of the year, it has to get down below 4 degrees C outside to require it. Which happens rarely here, and is likely to get less common in the future. (and coal is *cheap* now.)

I suppose if wanted to go greener, I would upgrade our air-con to one that has a heater function, and use some of that solar power. Or you know, I could just burn wood instead.

Re: Thoughts

[crunchysteve]

Totally get the wall space thing. We had huge, aging, gas heating for house and water, so we got a bit of space back, but it was touch and go there for a while. We're also lucky that the utility wall is behind the house, barely even visible from the neighbours' upstairs side windows. Also understand keeping the coal burner, seeing as you don';t need it often. Linda fancies herself a master chef and I was going to be prizing a gas cooktop from her cold, dead hand, lol. (And we have our gas bbq and tiny wood fired pizza oven, too. The latter will be prized from my cold, dead hand! Thinking about baking the daily bread in it, in fact.)

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

I like cooking, but I greatly prefer electric plate or coil to gas. I can do campfire cooking too.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

We have a woodstove, which can put out quite a lot of heat.

The heat pump is marginally useful at best, and useless when the weather gets really colds, then it switches to electrical emergency heat, which also doesn't keep the house really warm. Hence the woodstove and space heaters.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

That sounds like a good setup.

[crunchysteve]

After a lifetime of cycling for transport, I had a heart attack in December 2020, nearly didn't get to see Christmas. It has cliped my wings, let me tell you. The hardest thing is trying to get some of my cycling range back. I've recently figured it may have been that my first covid vax Astra-Zeneca. A friend of the missus lost a fried in similar circumstances. Realisation of that was hard, too, because I'm proudly pro-vax and there'd been so much misinformation from RWNJs around the AZ shot, then Oxford apologised and Astra-Zeneca stopped producing it. Subsequent shots were Pfizer, again because, pro-vax, and there had been good info that mixing them up was good for immunity. It's not aging that brings me down, it's the loss of capacity from having a heavily reduced ejection fraction. The cat has ust told me it's time to get up (9:am in eastern Australia, so she's right ;-) The cat, Marzi, the Lovely Linda, "Splodgenoodles", Jeff and my daughters help make life easier than it has become - not through what they do, just by being there. As does this DW thing. So, I am thankful I'm still here, even if it's tough to not just plan for a trip away of a couple of 1000 kilometres on the bike.