Did some work the other day. My old kind of work. Arbitration, mediation, paper-pushin’, talkin’-and-writin’ kinda thing. Felt good. Felt different. Felt sorta weird, too, almost as if it was a deja vu thing, ya know? ‘Been there, done that, doing it again? A bit odd.

I enjoyed my work as a mediator (1992 – 201?) and there was a time when I was pretty good at it. But mediating is like anything else – to be good, you have to do it all the time and I have had some significant time off.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not getting all ‘humble’ on ya. I’m still good. But with everyday practice there is a rhythm, a timing, a ‘zone’ you can feel as you get ‘into your groove’. This time, I could feel the rhythm but not the blues, I had the pace but not the timing. I was a hiccup out of the zone. I felt like Tiger Woods likely feels. Kinda. You know? Different reasons, tho.

I spent a lot of time with Mother Nature. He went more primal.

Similar, tho.

A bit like pulling wheelies on a motorcycle now that I think about it….

It’s age mostly. It sneaks up on you. After a 2 hour mediation and two hours of ‘writing it up’, I used to go do another one. There were more than a few times back ‘in the day’ when I started at ten in the morning and went til midnight. Sometimes even later. I once did two 8-hour mediations in a row. Ended at 2:30 am. Had to wake up a law student who was ‘watching how it was done’.

This time, I was exhausted after each session. It was not the people nor the issue. They were great! It was just being ‘out of the zone’, not ‘in the groove’. I am no longer ‘primed’ for the work week, the hustle and bustle. I can no longer run with the rats. I can’t take the heat and am glad I am out of the kitchen.

Can’t pull wheelies, either. Been a tough couple of weeks.

Still…………it was kinda neat.