Updated Speaker Schedule
We have recently updated our list of events with sessions by women speakers. Check it out!!
If you are speaking at an event and would like for us to highlight it, please send an email to dataplatformwit@gmail.com
UnitedWeTech – Episode Four
Our chat interview for April was with Heini Ilamarinen, from Poland. We had a great time talking to her on DevOps, Cloud Hosting and several other topics..you can find the interview here.
Keep an eye out for our next episode later this month with Heidi Hasting!
Learning about handling worry
I have usually only given talks on tech topics. After the second DPWIT Mental Health and Wellness Day, which was received and appreciated greatly – I considered doing a non-tech talk. Handling worry and anxiety has been a significant part of my personal growth, and I submitted a talk on this topic to DataWeekender, a Europe-based virtual tech conference. It was accepted, and I had to work hard on putting together my experience combined with some generic advice for people who signed up. During this process, I read two great books – one of them was ‘The Worry Solution, by Martin Rossman, MD. Among the suggestions Dr Rossman has is ‘Best Quality Meditation’…pick 5 qualities that you consider to be your strengths. Get a friend or family member to suggest some if you have problems finding them. Focus on these qualities – if you have specific incidents in your life to relate that’s fine but even if not, just mentally focus on them and visualize yourself being what quality you’re endowed with. I found this challenging initially, and odd, but I got used to it and now I actually like it. Visual imagery is a powerful tool, and using it to build confidence helps a lot with anxiety and worry.
The second book I read was ‘Choose Wonder over Worry‘, by Amber Rae. This is a sweet book, written in a pragmatic fashion to get to the heart of issues underlying chronic worry. Among this author’s suggestions, the one that stood out for me was the 3 Cs to see ourselves clearly – ‘courage’, ‘curiosity’, and ‘compassion’.Whenever we confront a challenge that triggers worry – approach it with what you do if felt brave, what you do if you had a child’s curiosity, and what you would do that kind, to yourself and whoever else is part of the equation. I had a medical test I needed to take and I used this approach –
1 Courage – I am brave and can face the result.
2 Curiosity – I would be happy to find out how my body is evolving and what I can do to help it stay healthy.
3 Compassion – I send my body love and warmth and accept it as part of me.
This really helped me to face what I had to do. The talk at DataWeekender was very well received – although they did not record it. I will do it again at another conference if I can.
On a more fun/light-hearted side, I have busied myself with gardening and cultivating succulents. Below is a pic of my succulent garden. Waking up every morning to see how my plants are doing has really energized me and filled me with hope.
Wish you all a great spring/summer ahead!
Mala
