Half-Present

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.”
– Alan Cohen

Dear Reader,

I will admit it, I woke up Monday morning, on a holiday, and got to work.

There was paperwork, follow-ups, and a few documents that I wanted to draft.

I knew those things were waiting for me, so I chose to handle them early, while most people were still away, precisely so I wouldn’t be carrying them around for the rest of the day.

A few hours later, I closed the laptop. And I mean I actually closed it. The work was done, so I let it be done and I spent the afternoon with the people I was with, fully there, not half-listening while a corner of my mind kept running through my to-do list.

That’s the part I want to talk about this week. Not rest versus work, but rather, presence.

We tend to think the goal is to stop working: to unplug, get away, do nothing. And sometimes that’s exactly right. But most of us know the other version too: you’re technically off, sitting at dinner or on a walk or on the beach, and you’re not really there. Part of you is still back at the desk, turning something over. You’re not fully working and not fully resting.

You’re just… half-present at everything.

That’s the real thief. Not the work itself, but the way it bleeds into the edges of everything else when you never give it a container.

What made my day work wasn’t that I refused to work on a holiday. It’s that I was intentional about it. I was fully present with the work while I did it, and fully present with my friends when I was done. Each thing got my complete attention, instead of a distracted version of me.

That’s what “use both and overlook neither” means to me. Work has its place. Rest has its place. The trouble starts when they blur together and you’re never all the way in either one.

So however you spent your long weekend, maybe an extra workout, a bike ride, dinner with friends, a few quiet hours, or yes, even some work, I hope you were actually there for it.

My question for you this week:

Where in your life are you being half-present, letting one part bleed into all the others, so nothing gets the whole of you?

Sit with that.

– Ken