I have done nothing but day-job work all week, arriving home happily tired and usually with some professional reading. I know it will settle down but in the meantime the poor bear didn’t get mended, very little of my grand-daughter’s cardigan got knitted and I didn’t open my little Moleskine all week, not to mention the brocade quilt! I’ve been productive and busy so why give myself a hard time about it? I know I am not Superwoman, don’t want to be Superwoman, never aspired to be superwoman, in fact the whole concept of a superwoman stinks! Ah, I feel better now that I’ve given her a small ‘s’ which is all that particular friend of my inner critic deserves!
Starting work full-time after a year’s part-time work and 3 months of being unemployed has been quite a shift – albeit an energising and intellectually stimulating one.
With winter coming on I start each day with a 20 km drive through the countryside just after sunrise and reverse the trip at sundown – I don’t even mind the smell of the occasional truck full of sheep as they remind me of sheep being driven down the road past my father’s shop when I was a kid – I’m immediately transported back and can hear the sound of their feet on the macadam, the dogs barking. Smells are so evocative aren’t they?
Monday and Friday, as I leave the beach behind for the week, I leave even earlier when it is still dark and arrive home with the sun just setting beyond the horizon of the sea. There is something I find truly wonderful about leaving a sleeping town in the early hours of the morning – I love that sense of adventure and new beginnings that it engenders.
The day job. I have absolutely wonderful colleagues – knowledgable, generous, hard-working, humourous, caring – and a job that requires us to be endlessly creative in how support people to solve the difficulties that face them each day. I just love a challenge and think perhaps creative problem solving is my strength – I just wish I was as adept when it comes to my own! Maybe I am . . . when you’re so close in, sometimes it’s hard to be both objective and yet free in your thinking.
On Friday (yes you North Americans, it’s a perfect, calm, sunny autumn Saturday morning here), I attended a day of strategic planning – more wonderful colleagues meeting up with a clear focus – and had some reading to do about goal setting to overcome the discrepancy between the current situation or conditions and what was desirable. I came upon the words CONSTRUCTIVE DISCONTENT. Fantastic descriptor don’t you think?
I’ve never considered discontent or criticism to be necessarily negative although many do – to me it’s simply a signal that change is needed. The trouble is, when I read a phrase that resonates such as ‘constructive discontent’ it rambles around in my mind and I start thinking and thinking and thinking and . . . you know what I mean? I need to DO something with this!
So while I haven’t been terribly creative in the evenings, my days are endlessly challenging and satisfying. Lucky me!
Lucky me this morning too – a plunger (French press) of coffee, return to bed, laptop, favourite blogs, washing on, sunshine pouring in – and to top it off I have a fresh new copy of Cloth Paper Scissors that was delivered to my mailbox!!!
I’m one very happy woman!
And with this just 2 minutes from my front door? Blessed in the extreme. Of course life throws up challenges which I sometimes struggle to keep in proportion, but . . . life is so good.
Now, what to do, what to do. . . .? The library have found a copy of Jill Berry’s Personal Geographies on interloan for me, my machine is calling, I want to call some friends and . . . I think I need more than just a weekend!
I remember how exhausting it was going back to full time work in my 40s – it took 3 months for me to recover energy for my own creative work! It must be lovely having the beach to return to each weekend. And I LOVE Cloth Paper Scissors!
Oh dear! That’s a bleak thought Jo – 3 months? And here am I in my 60s! By the way, I really like your work at the Magies Nest.
Well, 3 teenagers, an aging dog, and husband as well….I guess there was a lot on my plate. I am sure you will adapt at your own rate
Glad you like Magpies Nest – I need to spend a bit of time adding to it soon.
Glad you are enjoying your new challenges….you should join the Palmy library – lots of wonderful arty books there including the one you’ve just interloaned! I’m working there every night 5-8pm – come visit
I definitely will! See you later this week
I am glad to find your site! I am a late starter in the artsy-fartsy area though I’ve been picking at it for years. I enjoyed reading your posts. Blogging is somehthing I’m thinking of doing but I haven’t made the plunge yet. Looks like you live in a beautiful area. I’m near a river with boreal forest, granite rock and some farmers fields thrown in. Right now spring is trying to arrive but winter still throws in a touch of icyness in the mornings. I better go but I’ll keep checking in. Happy creating!
What a pleasure catching up here. I am so happy that you’re new job life is satisfying. It is a challenge to go back full time certainly. And great to see you are not pressing yourself too hard. I love your descriptions and your writing style, Wendy. Your grand daughter sounds like a wise old soul. And your wobbly spirals are wonderful. Xo
Thanks Diana, wobbly circles are all I can manage at the moment and that’s okay!