Archive for April, 2010
Filling your day?
In light of the recent cavalcade of Very Important Things that Need To Be Done Now; this post by Dawn Michelle stuck a chord with me. It’s something I have worked towards myself, but never formalised. Read the (short) article for more details, but briefly:
- Do no more than 3 important things every day.
- Ask for help.
- Taking a nap is better than doing the project tired.
- Limiting your tasks creates space for play.
- Practise Yoga or Meditation
Emma and I have both noticed the Grumpalunkus has come to visit us more often than usual lately. It’s time to get back on the minimal and happy path again!
Image by lotus8(Flickr).
We haven’t gone running in a while now. My knees feel much better.
Now we walk (briskly) of ride somewhere. Yep, low impact exercise is keeping us sane, almost.
I think it’s more about finding something to do together that involves a little bit of excitement (exploring the local area) that has a low entry price (basically free). I’m actually starting to get to know my fiancé a lot better. I’m also feeling more like a “local” too, which is funny because I have been living here (on and off) for over 8 years. 12 if I count the next suburb over.
My past has come back to bite me in the arse and it hurts. Sure I have made some pretty crappy decisions in the past, decisions which have left me with huge debt and not much to show for it. I think there are a lot of people like me out there and while it sucks to owe people money the real problem is that it has also restricted my freedom to a fair extent.
Take for example my current predicament. I have been offered a position performing in a children’s show in Singapore. Sounds fantastic right? It is. They pay for accommodation, food, air fares and I get paid per show I perform in. So what is the problem? The contract is only for three weeks, starting on the first of June, which would mean I would have to quit my job teaching at School to be able to take it. I can’t quit my job at School and go to Singapore without having another job lined up right after coming back due to how often and how much I owe on my loans. I’m also supposed to give a terms notice for quitting from a school.
There is also the fact that not only does School offer a steady paycheck but when it comes down to it, it is quite simple work, I plan everything in advance so I don’t have to take anything home, I usually get home by 4pm and when I am being truly honest with myself I do enjoy the work.
I guess it is about being patient and hoping that the opportunity presents itself again even though I really really want to take the job now.
Image by Enea (Flickr)
I’ve got 15 minutes spare while I wait for Emma to turn up for dinner. Now I can relax a little and watch the world go by for a bit. It’s really quite relaxing watching other people go about their business while I don’t, on purpose.
Really brings it back to me about what I do and don’t have control over. What I can make time for.
Me.
Yay! Batteries recharging at Supa-Rate(tm). This is the life.
Same life actually, different channel.
I feel like I haven’t written on here for a very long time which really upsets me because writing is one thing that I actually really enjoy doing. The last two weeks have been a mess of stress over the wedding. We thought we knew what we wanted and thought that we would get what we wanted, instead we have realised that the wedding isn’t about what we want but about what everyone else expects.
I can’t count the number of conversations I have had with people in the last two weeks which started with “What do you want?”, proceeded by us telling them what we want, then them launching into a twenty-minute argument into why we can’t have what we want (quite often for the ridiculous reason of “It’s traditional to do it another way”) and then finishing with the sentence I hate the most, “Whatever you two want to do, it is your day after all.” I just want to scream! Why are people bothering to ask us what we want if in the end they don’t actually want to do it our way but have already formulated in their heads what is going to happen.
Basically it has boiled down to the fact that we aren’t going to play into it anymore. If we are asked what we want and then the asker has a different idea, we’re not getting into the argument anymore. Some would see this as giving up. We see it as the path of least resistance and really in the end all that matters is that we both stand up on the 16th of May and say “I do”. Everything after that is a bonus.
Getting married was a good idea. Having a wedding was more than we bargained for.
Image by BrittneyBush (flikr)
