Weeknotes 29th Jan 2021
It’s the end of January (Hooray!) and it’s my fourth week writing #weeknotes. As this was a trial, I’m going to take a break over the next couple of weeks to think about whether publishing weeknotes is working for me as a way to write and share more.
Key things that happened this week:
I continued with 121 feedback sessions with colleagues in PE on the modelling I’m working on to uncover our approach to engaging the public at scale. These meetings also doubled up as a chance to check in and catch up with people who I miss seeing in the flesh
I shortlisted proposals that came into the education team to procure a coordinating organisation to create a model showing how young people connect with mental health science in low- and middle-income countries across Africa & Asia
I attended the Comms team ‘show and tell’ which included a presentations from Yasabel Schonegevel on trust, brand and recognition, and Abbee Hanlon on the role social media has played in our work over 2020.
I finally finished reading my copy of the New Philosopher on ‘Communication’ — some thought provoking articles in there about ‘Attentional commons’, which included an interesting reflection on seeing emails (that’s ALL emails) as spam; (by Oliver Burkeman) the framing around ‘virtue signalling’; (by Damon Young) and ‘The value of silence’ (by Marina Benjamin).
I also finished ‘Summerwater’ by Sarah Moss and started ‘Love in colour’ by Bobu Babalola.
I completed my monthly reflections diary, which is always a nice way to really appreciate everything you’ve done, especially when you feel like you’ve achieved very little.
One notable thing was managing my anxiety as my mother fell ill with COVID at the start of the year, despite her best efforts to stay safe, which included spending Christmas alone. It took her most of this month to recover (she’s still struggling) and although she wasn’t admitted to hospital, she was incredibly weak, feeling confused and sometimes delirious as a result of the fever. She sounded so unwell on the phone. All I could think about was how much I wanted to just jump on a train and be with her. I’m so thankful that it didn’t progress to something much worse. Thinking about some of my distant family who weren’t so lucky and are now dealing with loss. I’m hoping for a lighter February.
