Showing posts with label Stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stress. Show all posts

Thursday, November 04, 2010

The Roller Coaster Ride of Life

Whenever it is possible, a boy should choose some occupation which he should do even if he did not need the money. ~ William Lyon Phelps

J and I have been together for not quite three years now. In that time, we've managed to fit in nearly every major stressor in life there is between the two of us.

Marital Separation and Divorce - check
Death of a Family Member - check
Illness - check
Illness of family member - check
Marriage - almost check
Job Dismissal - check, check, and check (we thought we'd do this one three times)
Addition of a new family member - check

We often joke that if the early stages of our relationship can survive what it has so far, it can survive anything.

Once again, we've been hit with another one. This time it was my own job loss. Our company was bought by another and, well, we all know that old refrain: Out with the old, in with the new. My co-workers and I discovered on Tuesday that we were the old. Which is funny, because I don't feel that old...

But since I like to find silver linings and drink from a glass that's half-full as opposed to half empty, I've decided to look at it as extra opportunity to fit in more writing time. An even greater chance of meeting my 50,000 Nano word count.

Granted I still have to look for a job during this time, preferably one that won't force me to commute across the harbour in the mornings and cut off my writing time. If nothing else, losing my job has made me realize just how important my writing is, because the first thought in my head wasn't, "Oh no, I need to find another job right away!" It was, "I need to find a job that doesn't interfere with my writing time."

I think most important to me is not the pay cheque I end up bringing home, but that the job fits my life and maintains a balance of what is most important to me. No one wants to work in a job that makes them miserable. Life is too short.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Staying On Track When Things Go Off Track

It’s Day 6 for those of us doing Nano. Hope everyone is finding their rhythm. I had a good roll going but it sort of sputtered out this morning. After racking up daily word counts of 1,800 to 2,000 words I came up with a measly 631 this morning. My mind was festering on some other issue that has been bothering me and it just would not let go and allow me to concentrate. So I decided to just journal it out and try to get it out that way. That helped a little and after I did that I went back and managed to end up with around 1,530 or so words total. Which brings my total word count to 11,564. More than respectable.

But I have to say I hate (1) being stressed; and (2) having said stress affect my writing. I know its inevitable that you’ll run into road blocks like that. Life is a stressful adventure, after all and there are times when said stress is going to get the better of you and all your reasoning and deep breathing and telling yourself not to worry isn’t going to do a thing.

Thankfully, my mini-meltdown only lasted a few hours. By the time I got to work and thought things through a bit more I calmed down. I feel better. Not 100%, but not like my head is going to explode either.

So it’s onward and upward. Tomorrow is another day to kick the word count up a bit more and stay on track. How is everyone else doing?