Andrew on Paris

... down to Brussels we got on a train down to Paris. And we stayed in Paris for a week. I was really looking forward to Paris, because you know it's Paris. It's France, it's magic. It's got all this cool stuff about it, you know, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, like the Louvre, everything is cool. But what I found is that I was getting really worn out. I don't know if it was because we were like three-odd weeks through like city-hopping with a four-year-old, a one-year-old, and the two of us adults. Or if it was that were just jamming too much into our days and trying to experience too much that we were just getting right out. 

Whether it was just the city itself just didn't mesh with me, but I was kind of starting to get a bit grumpy. I still experienced some cool stuff, you know. We did the Eiffel Tower, we went to Disneyland, you know, we did some cool things. And it was amazing, but just something about me just was feeling overrun and overwhelmed, and I wasn't appreciating what I was doing. Then one day we went to the zoo in the morning, which was good for the kids. We went, "Oh, we'll go to this place called Jardin du Luxembourg." Which is like parks, and there's like a palace kind of that's on there, and some parklands around it. We walked up there and the sun was shining, and it was just beautiful. Like there were people sitting in chairs around the water fountains, and there were kids playing at the playground, and pony rides, and teenagers playing basketball, and old blokes playing bocce, and lovers sitting on the park bench eating ice cream, kissing. A lot of people taking a lot of photos. 

We just found a park bench. The girls had fallen asleep, and we just sat there for a good half an hour, maybe 45 minutes and just ... For me it was just like centering. It was kind of like I needed a pause. I needed something that restored me. I know when I visited New York awhile ago, like Central Park had that for me as well like ... I live in Australia. I live on the Mornington Peninsula, and we're not too busy of a place. You know, we're beaches, and wineries, and nature, and restaurants, and hospitality, and we're a bit quiet. We're a bit slower. Quiet natural beauty. So I think that this space was like, it was open. It was a little bit busy. It was just I could sit, I could let the world go by. My wife and I just really recognised that that moment was just great. Like we didn't have to do anything.

So what it taught me was what am I doing in my day to day that gives me rest? That restores me, that recuperates me, that allows me to soldier on. Because there will be moments where I'm not going to enjoy what I'm doing. There will be moments where it's incredibly hectic and busy, and I need to be focused and I need to get certain things done. But if I'm not finding a way to restore my energy and, you know, reconnect with where I'm at, and boost myself up again, I'm going to get worn out, I'm going to get grumpy, I'm not going to experience and enjoy it as much. It's just going to become an overall horrible time for people. 

So, yeah, so I guess the challenge for you is like what is that? You know, when you get coffee or you're going for a walk, instead of heading back to the office. Do you eat your lunch at your desk? Do you chuck the earphones and do a meditation in the morning before you start or during the day? What is it that you do that allows you to make sure that you are not just running crazy and then eventually getting worn out to the point where you become annoying and frustrating and you don't enjoy what you do. That was Paris. Thanks, guys.