Being in a different working & mental space for a week does wonders for one’s psyche

…it also can reopen wounds.

The challenge in & around tech-spaces is to allow for those bits to come, and instead of measuring them, live with them. Figure out why you needed to exist that way. (Tweet)

Why does this matter? Or rather, why doesn’t it matter more in tech-enabled spaces? Mainly because instead of allowing our work and tools to augment what we do, we are often looking for them to replace what we do.

Had taken to using “augmented intelligence” versus “artificial intelligence” when around “AI” convos for this reason. And it came up again when speaking with those who feel others live too much (in their view) through screens and facilitated experiences. The attention we give or don’t give to these other narratives might very well be what we need to survive, but it also denies us of some of the other matters which revel themselves through the eyes of others.

Some who can work remotely begin to understand and can embrace this as normal. Many got a slice of what this looked like for themselves during various shutdowns/lockdowns. Not having the same contexts but requiring similar levels of “living effort” caused a view into what they liked and didn’t like about the societies they are enabling or sustaining. Some shifted towards embracing, some dug in towards limiting. Neither positive or negative, we all make the decisions we do in order to survive and thrive here.

All of us are shortsighted in measuring though. Much about this difference in perspective will only come by leaning into the probability of there being something else worthwhile on the other side of the decision (or non-decision).

If you’ve got a chance to redraw your perspectives, take it. Then, with that new canvas, notice the light and the shadow. Both are you. Both are more than what can be measured.