Playing is Hard Work

Sunday, January 06, 2008

To Be or To Watch TV

I am noticing a reoccurring pattern.

When I am stressed out, anxious, when I feel that things are just out of my reach, I am also very productive.

When I have what I need, when I feel comfortable and happy, I am pretty useless.

I've been realizing lately that I'm just not doing things very well lately. I am not doing a bad job at anything, but I'm not really working very hard either. I do enough. I get the things done that need to get done. Things are not slipping. But neither are they moving ahead. Three examples:
  1. I have a lovely home. It is beautiful and well-appointed and I have surrounded myself with things that make me comfortable and happy. I am very lucky in this. But do I ever clean my house? No, I do not. I pick up enough that I do not live in a shit mess and I keep things relatively tidy, but you will not catch me dusting or vacuuming unless someone that I want to impress is coming over. Even when I want my house to be clean, I would rather sit around and wish it were clean than actually clean it.
  2. I like my jobs. I find them challenging but also affirming and I know that I do a pretty good job at them, but also I have been realizing lately that I'm really just not working as hard as I could be working. Am I working hard enough to do the job? Yes. Am I excelling? No. I want to excel. I want to be the best at what I do- ambition is not pretty but it got me where I am and now I seem to be completely without it.
  3. I am a pretty creative person. I have lots of good ideas. I have the skills, training, and resources to bring these ideas to some sort of fruition. But do I? No, I do not. I just mull on them and then feel bad when they don't ever see the light of day.
I feel like I want to be more productive, but obviously I don't want to badly enough to actually put the work in. But maybe I don't have to be so productive all the time. Maybe it is okay not to feel stressed out and anxious.

So, here is the question: Am I going through a normal post-grad-school phase where I am weaning myself from a workaholic mindset and slowly getting used to a lifestyle that is more of a 20-year marathon rather than a 2-year sprint OR am I being a useless, lazy gadabout who needs to pull her shit together and get things done?

2 Comments:

Blogger RGC said...

enjoy the calm.

work hard when you need to.

create constantly.

as long as you are enjoying your time now that you are out of school, then don't trip. relax.

or at least that is my humble opinion.

11:19 AM  
Blogger whitney said...

sounds like you're doing just the right thing. after all, "the secret of life is enjoying the passage of time", or that's what james taylor says. :)

as for the house, i'm right there with you. screw cleaning. it's totally overrated. as long as nothing in the fungus kingdom is growing in your apartment, you're good to go.

7:37 PM  

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