Should anyone ask, I’m looking into the fire.

Depending on which Meyers Briggs test I take, I come out as an introvert and sometimes an extrovert. This post is about caring for the introvert.

Usually I try to take my weekends, kicking back, being in the mountains, hiking. And sometimes just waking up on Saturday after deliberately not committing to any events during the weekend and seeing what happens,  and at my own pace. At the moment I’m balancing two jobs: it’s taxing. A tax that I’m working to reduce as soon as possible. It’s not fair on myself and not fair to the buddycloud team.

It’s the introvert that needs some downtime. This is the man-cave moment when you need to be alone to think, recharge, update. An ex called this my looking into the fire time and would give me a hard time for it. I’m comfortable with my need for it and am a much nicer person to be around when I’ve had it.

The downtime helps me find clarity in my thinking.

Looking into the fire comes from being in a quiet environment that encourages zoning out. Zoning out can mean working on silly computer projects: tweaking a RaspberryPi, updating firewall rules. Both completely inane things and the world would continue without them happening.

Getting out: running or swimming or taking a long walk also helps. The repetition gets the good thoughts happening.

I’m currently looking into the fire by going to the library and catching up with the world on a slow internet connection. The slow internet connection is a helper: I focus on emails and catching up with planning documents, plans and upcoming speeches. Strategically using the 64Kbit connection on my phone for the important tasks.

Looking into the fire enables the deep thinking necessary for the next few months’ flurry of activity (and there’s going to be lots of that). Some of this will be buddycloud: ramping up on the Android client. Getting stronger on buddycloud installs. And pushing our marketing and funding agenda.

Looking into the fire is like the necessary reboot to get back on top of things. And being on top of things is a good feeling.