Author Archives: J Madsen

I noticed this week that I walk into a workshop and feel comfortable, even if it’s one I’ve never been in before. I’m happily able to hold conversations with the people, be aware of my surroundings, and occasionally say something mildly intelligent about the work going on. I observed this week that one of theContinue reading “Comfort in new situations”

Moving back to where I grew up has had its ups and downs. Ups being, of course, being close to so many friends and family that it’s so easy to be with. Having a network I can see in person when I’m feeling lonely. Downs being expectations of me being the same person and notContinue reading “Sometimes we don’t need to be understood, just accepted”

I’ve now jumped up into my first gig as a manager, and honestly, I’m making a lot of mistakes. I realised today that one of these has been reactivity. In the past week I’ve been excessively reactive when under time constraints and passed that down the chain, expecting my people to come up with answersContinue reading “Reflection, introspection”

A while ago, I lost my morning routine. On the farm, there were cows depending on me getting myself out of bed and starting my day running around on a motorbike and divvying out feed. Initially when I left the farm, I was in a good habit of waking up at 5:30/6am. But why? WhatContinue reading “Being kind to yourself”

It’s been a busy couple of months. I had a job approach me that ticked all my boxes of experiences I wanted but did not have, and that made me uncomfortable. I very nearly sent a ‘no thanks’ email, but something stopped me. Something made me unable to hit send. So now I had aContinue reading “Choose Your Own Adventure”

I find it interesting how one person treating you poorly can snowball. Suddenly you are looking at how everyone else treats you and whether they are truely in your corner or not. This has just occurred to me, as I sit on an island with no phone reception, trying to make sense of what I’mContinue reading “Manipulation”

So often in our lives we are on a mission. We’re going to get groceries, we’re going to do that thing for work, we’re going to milk the cows, we’re very busy and important.Even when we do have downtime, we often fill it with other things – cleaning, children, doing odd jobs we know needContinue reading “Create space”

Growing up I was always encouraged to make a ‘pros and cons’ list when trying to make a decision. This was encouraged for anything ranging from which watch to buy, to which job opportunity to pursue. While this may be a sound method for some people, I have noticed that it has often lead meContinue reading “Making decisions”

Choices can be hard. I’ve noticed some conditions make them harder than others. Of course there are the obvious contributors – how much is at stake, how much time is allowed, what your choices are, how many choices there are, who the critics will be and how many critics there are. A fun fact IContinue reading “Choice Paralysis”

“You grow through what you go through” – Tyrese Gibson At the moment I have no set home base. This leaves me free to migrate around as I see fit. Allows me to live obligation free.I’m coming to realise that while this is an ah-may-zing way to live, but may be enabling some of myContinue reading “To run or stand your ground”