Pressure point

It all started with seeing a painting by the artist Erró at the Reyjkjavik Art Museum sporting the same title as this blog post: "Pressure point" (image accompanying this blog). The feeling that emanated upon seeing this painting hit hard; it was a feeling that it had been personally made for me and carried a message. I walked through that particular exhibit (called Cyborg) pretty quickly and moved on to the others to change my state of mind. The image has stayed with me, to put it mildly and it is making me reflect about my life.

I don't know about you, but travelling makes me reflect a lot. I guess it is expected, as you take in a foreign language and surroundings, and essentially immerse yourself into the present moment. Living the present moment lets you take in the beauty around you, as well as feeling people's vibes that much greater. It also makes you break from the mental and or emotional compartmentalization that you might let yourself getting used to in your normal routine. And the thing with art is that an artist's emotions, thoughts, and observations are captured in metaphoric ways that cannot always be described with words. That is how I experience art anyways: it evokes a feeling or feelings (multiple) within me and this Pressure Point painting certainly achieved that.

You know, Iceland is a country that is ranked top in the world for their drug prevention program. Government has implemented policies that are designed to make parents spend time with their children and keep kids off the streets through an imposed curfew. Sports and cultural activities are heavily subsidized to make them accessible to all and encourage future generations to fuel their serotonin levels naturally rather than in chemically-induced manners. I have certainly witnessed families spending time together, midday and early afternoon on a Thursday, by seeing them sledding, walking or touring a zoo and family park. I saw so many parents out and about that it made me wonder about their professional obligations. Nobody was rushed, nobody was on their phones and everyone was simply taking in the moment as a family. Perhaps these people were on vacation or there is a policy enabling families to have long lunch hours... I don't have the answer as I write this, but I did like what I saw.

So where am I going with this babbling and talking about reflecting about my life because of a painting? Well today for instance, I wanted to sit down and write instead of venturing more. (Don't worry, I'll be out and about later this evening with my husband). My last blog post was early December, marking a 3-month gap. What used to be a weekly discipline has taken the way side these last months. I had also started to do cross-fit training over the Summer and stopped going after a bad flare up of my occipital neuralgia early November. It would appear that the things that fuel my body, mind and soul are always the first to go when I feel different pressures/demands from life. Sometimes I imagine my life in a complete different way: being at home, cooking healthy meals and having fun doing it because I am not rushed, practicing daily exercise.... In that vision, I feel calm, peace and joy. Long gone are the digestion issues, the headaches, and the fatigue. This vision makes me panic because I always wonder: what is it that I do for a living? I can't seem to see that part in those visualizations. I only see that same image of me in my kitchen and feeling great.

I am often asked by students or younger people how I achieve work-life balance while holding a leadership position and having a family. I typically respond that rather than using the term "work-life balance", I seek to carve moments differently to achieve quality time, with emphasis on quality. I give the example of being present at my daughter's soccer practice and doing some work while my daughter is on the field, but then being completely mentally present when she has games. My personal challenge is that I don't always make myself a priority and I know that when I don't take care of myself enough, I am like the "Pressure point" painting rather than the burst of colours portrayed in the "Chromo Sapiens" exhibit by artist Shoplifters/Hrafnhildur Arnadottir. Leading an organization, running a business, being two professional parents with kids is simply hard nowadays. I don't know about my fellow Gen Xers out there, but man do I feel sometimes like I am running a never-ending marathon! Having had to adopt technology as we graduated and now playing catch up with our children (who know way more about our smart phones and social media than we ever will, let's face it!), just as we thought we were becoming pretty tech-savvy. Having experienced the "earn your stripes" mentality, which meant working your butt off to climb step by step that elusive professional ladder. Then, once you have reached the top rungs or upper part of the ladder, you have to keep up with today's demands, which means among others, completely revisiting your management style and behaviours to meet today's workforce realities, in addition to being prepared to innovate constantly to ensure not only your organization's survival, but your own career's survival. I am not complaining by the way, but rather stating how a Gen Xer can sometimes feel... Or maybe it is just me as well.

The morale of this whole blog post is this: I am reflecting deeply and I invite you to reflect as well... about our own personal lives, and also as a collective society. Among some of the questions that have arisen for me:

- If everyone had the opportunity to experience the world and travel to other countries, would it impact our worldviews? Would we fight about the same things?

- What can be accomplish when we have a vision and work backwards to attain it? Iceland for instance opted for a vision of their children being healthy and spending time with their parents and adopted a long-term drug and alcohol prevention program, which is putting them as a leading country today.

-What is the role that technology plays with our humanity? In the current exhibit titled "Cyborg", The artist Erró, has determined that we have become cyborgs, whether we like it or not. As my husband and I took in the experience of the Blue Lagoon upon our arrival in Iceland, we were amazed by how obsessed everyone was with their phones, taking selfies after selfies from all angles... it actually became distressing to watch! Are we losing our humanity as we adopt more and more technology?

-Are we willing to experience short-term pains to have long term gains by designing policies and implementing measures that are designed for the future and not for the next 4 years?

And by curiosity:

-How does this painting make you feel?