How 2023 Became My Year of “Ease”
This blog post shares a series of writings from newsletters, blogs, and social media, presented in a “journal” format. Bonus, via the photos I used throughout the year, you get to watch my garden grow.
April, 2023
Posted on LinkedIn
A couple of weeks ago I took a look at my calendar and to my surprise last week was almost completely open. I had 1 single meeting on the schedule, something that almost never happens.
Like most places in the US I was blessed with unseasonably warm weather and decided to do the unheard of: I blocked the week off.
And then, instead of forcing myself to reluctantly stare at a screen while the trees outside my window started to bud, I took advantage of the weather and:
🌞 Cleaned off my balcony in preparation for my small but mighty summer garden (last year pictured below!)
🌞 Took a long walk around the neighborhood
🌞 Went to a dance class
🌞 Took off early to meet up with a friend
As a recovering #workaholic it was not easy to set my computer aside and choose what felt like #laziness.
But by Thursday, my outdoor office space was open for business. I was able to get back to work while enjoying the weather AND my hard work- a product of anything but laziness.
And this week, my 2 full days of back to back meetings don’t seem quite so daunting.
Let me tell you, I feel anything but lazy. I feel #accomplished, #refreshed, #proud, and #joyful.
Tell us: How do you challenge #workaholism and #grindculture?
May 30, 2023
Posted on LinkedIn
Happy official unofficial start to summer! 🌞🩴🍦🍉🏖️🍃
Let’s talk summer schedules! What does your summer schedule look like?
Do your hours change? Summer Fridays? Long vacations? Please share!
Here’s what I’m playing with:
🌞 Slower mornings: I’m not taking morning meetings outside of those that are already scheduled. Just updated my calendar availability and it feels good!
🌞 I’m taking one extra day a week to sleep in.
🌞 I already have 2 no work vacations (iykyk) scheduled.
I would love to hear more about what other folks are doing! Do you change your schedule in the summer? What practices do you have in place to create more ease in your day?
Pictured below: my summer garden just starting to get going.
Photo of a sun-dappled balcony with potted plants and a small table with 2 chairs. Beyond the balcony trees are visible, adding to the greenery.
July 4, 2023
Posted on the American Evaluation Association AEA 365 Blog: How I’m Building Ease into My Consulting Practice
Hi! My name is Alli Shurilla. I’m the Founder and Lead Consultant of AS Community Consulting, a consulting firm based in Brooklyn, NY (Lenapehoking) focused on equity and community-based consulting in evaluation, strategic planning, DEIAB, organizational assessment, and coaching. I’m also the current social media chair for the IC TIG!
When I first started my consulting business one of the biggest draws was the freedom and agency over my schedule and workload. However, I quickly found myself stuck in the same toxic work culture I was trying to get away from: feeling the pressure to keep standard business hours, attempting to fill my days with a full eight hours of “productive” work, and needing to fill breaks in client work with yet more “productivity.” Not only did it create fatigue and anxiety, but far from being productive, this tie to what I thought work should look like pulled me away from my natural rhythms of creativity and inspiration.
Yes, we need to respond to our clients’ work hours, and many of us have household dynamics and schedules out of our control. But I’ve found that the biggest thing keeping me stuck has been my own mindset and how I have bought into messages and values about work and productivity. One of the biggest messages in my way has been a fear and shame of being lazy.
Ever since, I’ve been trying to find a better balance and a healthier relationship to my work and my business. Like any successful business owner, I started to ask myself the real questions:
Why do I do “it” this way? Where does that come from? What are my values? And most importantly, What are my options? How else could this look? What if? and Why not?
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been working on intentionally incorporating more ease and spaciousness into my days. This has looked a few different ways over the years, including four day work weeks, shorter work days, later mornings, and offline vacations.
This summer I’m experimenting with sleeping in more and not taking meetings before noon. I also have a small but mighty balcony garden that requires my attention and care. In return it offers me opportunities for peace, more spaciousness in my morning routine, and a really great outdoor office space.
Hot Tips
Here are some tips on building ease into your work day:
Build a reflective practice, whether that looks like journaling, letting your mind wander during a walk, or talking it out with a trusted friend or therapist.
Find a coach, mentor, advisor, or group that aligns with your values to help identify patterns and offer suggestions and support.
Use tools like a calendar scheduling tool and automated email replies to help you hold your boundaries and other automation tools or support (like a VA) to take busy work off your plate.
Invest in the things that give you joy, nourishment, and opportunities for rest.
Don’t forget the power of no. Get to know your own boundaries and find ways to maintain them.
Note: While I’m proud of my skills in self-reflection, my commitment to ease is rooted in the teachings of multiple intersecting social justice practices, including but not limited to racial justice, indigenous practice, and disability justice.
July 6, 2023
Shared in newsletter: Do Less and Get More Done 😌
This week, my blog post on How I’m Building Ease into My Consulting Practice was featured on the American Evaluation Association AEA365 blog. 🎉
I talk about my relationship with toxic work culture, what I’ve been doing about it, and offer tips for folks looking to incorporate more ease into their day.
The thing is, I love my job. It allows me to connect with people who share my values, engages my curiosity, feeds my creativity, and challenges me to be a better version of myself. I don’t see my work to be add odds with my life- it’s an integral part of who I am.
But buying in to toxic work and productivity culture has burned me out just like so many others. So this summer I’ve committed to moving slower, taking more brakes, and getting extra sleep.
It may seem counterintuitive, but this shift in mindset has actually allowed me to be more productive. If you’ve followed conversations on the 4 day work week and unlimited time off, this probably won’t be too much of a surprise. Focusing on rest truly does allow us to focus our energy where it matters.
I’ve found that on days I sleep just an hour later I have more energy, so I get things done more quickly and with more joy and inspiration.
I’ve given myself permission to take more time with my garden in the morning, and am rewarded with a joyful and beautiful outdoor workspace- and a great Zoom background (pictured below).
Whether I’m working on an evaluation or with a coaching client, work feels inviting, inspiring, and dare I say even fun.
I’ve also noticed that I’m less likely to “crash” in the evenings and can instead focus on to something that feels regenerative like spending some time with the aforementioned garden or talking to a friend.
I’ve been somehow, even with fewer hours in the day, able to do more things. And more of those things are the ones that really matter.
And with all that said, I have renewed energy to open up my calendar for a limited number of both nonprofit consulting and coaching clients- yes, even in this slow summer.
Whether you’ve got a project in mind or are still figuring it out, this is the perfect time to get started building something truly meaningful and generative. We’ll focus on building something purposeful and easeful, as always reducing the busywork and focusing on the tools that can most powerfully support you. We can even create a strategy to build in more ease. 😌
A photo of a small balcony with vined and potted plants and a small table with 2 chairs. The sun is shining and creates a dappled pattern on the floor.
August 24, 2023
Shared in newsletter: We don't actually have to be stressed out all the time 🌻
A couple of weeks ago I spoke with Mindelyn Anderson, Founder + Principal of Mirror Group LLC, Chair of the American Evaluation Association Independent Consultants TIG, and someone who has become a friend and co-mentor for an event we hosted for a group of evaluation entrepreneurs. One of the things that we talked about was my summer commitment to incorporating more ease into my life.
Then in a meeting this week, another group and I were chatting about practices we’re engaging in this fall and it came up again. I shared that this isn’t just a summer experiment, it’s something I hope to continue forward and confidently stated, “We don’t actually have to be stressed out all the time.”
I truly believe that living in a constant state of stress does not serve us as people nor does it serve the work we contribute to the world.
Since making this commitment to myself just a couple of months ago I’ve seen the ways it has not only helped me be healthier and happier, but in fact become more productive and efficient. As they say, “work smarter not harder.” Or as I stated in my last newsletter, “do less, get more done.”
But the next thing I learned is that easefulness is in fact not easy- especially so in our hustling, workaholic, get it done yesterday, dopamine-directed culture. It takes intentional work, effort, commitment, and communication. I’ve been noticing the ways it shows up in my life as a whole, my internal struggle to stay committed, and the ways it shows up explicitly and implicitly as I navigate a new project with a new team and a robust, dynamic, and ambitious timeline.
As I reflected in my conversation last week with Mindelyn, I’ve been navigating “… trying to find that balance of like, we have an aggressive timeline. How do I show up for that? How do I make this happen and really commit to what I said I was gonna do while at the same time honoring my boundaries. And honoring [working in a way] that I know works really well.”
It’s a journey. It’s intentional, difficult, sticky work. But ALSO, we can engage with that work, discomfort, and and even a certain level of anxiety and stress in ways that do encourage spaciousness and ease.
My personal journey to ease is rooted in my experiences in the social justice space, including but not limited to racial justice, indigenous practice, and disability justice. However, the term and concept of ease originates in South Asia and Buddhism. I’m not Buddhist, nor from a Buddhist culture, but one of the things I’ve learned as I dive deeper into this history is that pursuing ease does not mean avoiding stress or discomfort completely. Instead, it recognizes and offers an opportunity to move through these experiences with acceptance, understanding, and openness.*
Like a good workout or a great relationship, challenge and discomfort are necessary for learning, growth, and equilibrium.
Moving through discomfort with ease challenges our comfort zones, but instead of reacting in a way that keeps us in a state of stress indefinitely, offers the opportunity to breathe, step back, assess, and eventually settle into more spaciousness and calm.
Committing to this practice has allowed me to engage with stress differently. It’s inevitable at times, necessary at others, but we don’t need to accept it as a constant inescapable state.
We really don’t have to be stressed out all the time.**
*Note 1: I’m not Buddhist, from a Buddhist culture, and my background is not explicitly rooted in Buddhism, so if I’ve misrepresented or misinterpreted anything here, please feel free to correct me if you are comfortable doing so.
** Note 2: This message, and all of my reflections, are offered as gentle inspiration and guidance. They are never intended to ignore the effects of mental health conditions; personal, collective, or historical, trauma; or stress related to oppressive dynamics and should not be used to bypass these realities and experiences.
*** Note 3: This message was sent during Mercury retrograde (yes, really). Please excuse any typos, broken links, or poorly explained concepts.
A photo of a small balcony with vined and potted plants and a small table with 2 chairs. A cluster of potted dwarf sunflowers is centered on the table and several curved ribbons of light created by the camera lens are visible.