Reflections on a recharge

I took a 6-week work break (recharge) to use up Covid-19 related leave, together with my husband Jonathan Mangosing, to reconnect with family and friends across-the-world (my family is based on three continents), including one new family member 👶 - Beatrix. With one side of my family living in Western Australia where they had experienced being cut off from the world for years so seeing Victoria, James, Gracie, Evey-Jane, Nicolle, and Matilda again, and Beatrix for the first time ever was magical! Seeing Mum in good health, Dad, Simon, Jo, Tom, Olly, Jane, Paul, Holly, and Jamie was also incredible. And many dear friends, especially Mark Moon. Pure gold. 🙏

👨‍👨‍👧‍👦 It was so wonderful to see friends and family in person again. Zoom, FaceTime, or Google Meet don’t make up for cuddles and shared experiences together. I struggled with this, as did many others, during the international lockdowns. I had been to the UK during lockdown but under very difficult circumstances as my Mum was facing life threatening surgery. Thankfully, it was a success and she is doing very well indeed.

📚 👨‍🍳 It gave me time to read a bunch more books than normal, cook, learn more about the world & different cultures, focus on some more non-profit passion projects (teaching kids to code), and do some writing.

🏋️‍♂️ 🏊‍♂️ 🌊 🚲 It improved my physical health. I made a concerted effort to workout everyday, eat more healthily, and drink more water. I feel this improved both my mental and physical health.

It also helped me with work:

💡 I have reprioritized the top things I need to work on to have more impact on my return.

💡 I think that I had been suffering from some exhaustion due to some relentless projects (the ones that are multiyear marathons where self-doubt kicks-in at times), remote work, an incredibly challenging time to be in the the travel business (mandatory lockdowns), the very upsetting Ukraine War, and at times the press coverage felt unfair and inaccurate. This really got to me. We are continually trying to do right by our drivers, riders, employees, shareholders, and cities. I strongly believe human physical connections will continue to return and that our business is setup stronger than prior to the pandemic. You can read more about this on https://investor.lyft.com/overview/default.aspx

💡 Logan Green’s and John Zimmer’s mission to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation remains an inspiration.

💡 I’ve grown my trust in my colleagues even more. They didn’t drop the ball on anything and did a better job than I think I would have done myself! Empowerment + accountability is an incredible thing. I need to work on this more. I stayed connected to work for 30 minutes per day, mostly in a mentor role. I enjoy mentoring and it keeps my mind active. We have so many interesting problems to solve in the transportation and technology space.

Tip: before you take a recharge give plenty of notice to your team and write a coverage plan so that no one is surprised. Include emergency contact details just in case. This is respectful to your colleagues and ensures business continuity.

I’m very grateful to Amy Farrow and Peter Morelli for supporting my recharge and being solid rocks in my life for the past decade+.

I realize this recharge was a privilege and will be forever grateful for it.