Monday 9 February 2015

Me, myself and I

At school I was always lucky enough to be surrounded by scores of friends (and the odd enemy of course) with a busy social life.

A big proportion of my working life has been spent in an office of one sort or another dealing with bosses, colleagues, customers and organising shows.

Add to that several years as a member of Young Farmers which was full of social events, parties and big groups of people...oh and copious amounts of Southern Comfort but that's beside the point...

Moving on to meeting my husband who is in a rock band and the years that followed filled with gigs and huge amounts of social gatherings with the band, the wives and then all of our children.

So I have always been surrounded by people.

Until seven years ago when I started working from home, not by choice, it was just how it all worked out.  I have to say..it was a big shock to my system.

It sounds ideal and yes of course I wouldn't change it for the world now because it allows me the flexibility to do what I want to do, although I think I probably work more hours now than I ever did in an office!

It did take some getting used to and it takes a huge amounts of discipline to focus on what needs to be done.

The flipside is that I spend a huge amount of time on my own which actually I have gotten used to and most of the time I love.

The problem is that you can become too isolated.  It can easily get to the stage where you realise that you haven't left the house for days on end (except for the school run) and that can lead to a bit of cabin fever.  It can also make you very reclusive, your home becomes a sanctuary, a safe cocoon, which is no bad thing but it can make it extremely difficult to want to step outside the door.

I have found myself agreeing to appointments and engagements in advance and then when the time comes I actually dread the thought of having to go out...once I am out and spending time doing whatever it is I usually thoroughly enjoy myself.

I have a 'lot on' as they say and I am generally a very organised person but lately I have been very much out of routine and I don't think that helps, so this is a new start for me, a new plan and a new routine.

I have my 'real job' which thankfully is part time and even more thankfully pays the bills so that is the first order of each day.  Then there is the Kitchen Witch School, the blogs and then the two book contracts I now have which all need to be scheduled into the day and several Kitchen Witch online courses all of which I am incredibly excited to be co-writing along with the school runs, housework, washing, cooking dinner etc (not so exciting) and writing articles for Pagan Dawn and Mystik Way.

But I also need to do things for me, so today I am actually writing this from a lovely little cafe in Southsea called Southsea Coffee Co.  I came in for breakfast - Nordic spiced porridge with maca, apple & coconut partnered by a hand blended chai latte.  My table is spread with paperwork, books and notes but I am amongst people with all the sights and sounds oh...and there may be cake in the future too...

The other downside to working from home is the lure to 'faff' and find yourself sitting watching back to back trashy TV...not the Jeremy Kyle type..goddess forbid things have not gotten that bad...generally I watch the food channels.  So I have to attempt to avoid that particular black hole...

One of the good distractions is signing up for a weekly yoga class...yes I know you have all fainted at that prospect but it is being run by a friend and appeared at the right time - fate, synchronicity and all that jazz.

My cafe writing will hopefully be a regular jaunt because a. they have cake...no that's it they have cake...well that and it allows me to purely focus on writing without distraction and b. it gets me out of the house and among people.

I am also drawing up a schedule of writing so I will be so organised you won't believe it.

I am thankful that my life is where it is and for all the events that have led me to this point and that my real job not only pays the bills but also allows me the freedom to write, create and co run Kitchen Witch.  It has also allowed me to discover that I do very much like my own company, that I can feel comfortable going out on my own but also that I value company too...the best of both worlds, I just have to remember not to slip backwards into the hermit void...

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