river

Go Big or Go Bust: On Going With The Goddam Flow

With everything that’s behind and ahead of me in wanting to get this pilot in front of the right people, I’m pin balling through every phase of the emotional wringer.

And then early Saturday morning, I had a dream. It was just around daybreak when a person’s lucky to be able to get back to sleep, much less have a dream.

A 20-something, Middle Eastern-looking woman and I were talking in the hall of a building at 14th St and 8th Avenue. There was nothing fancy about the way she looked or dressed but she radiated a beautiful strength and confidence. She mentioned that she meditated two or three times a day for an hour each time and was cutting back on the people she sees. She mentioned that ‘Henry Fun’, who is dying, is one of them. It felt like I was not someone she’d be making time for.

And so I drifted off in thought, thinking about what a pity it is that I’m not a sitting meditation person, that this is obviously why she’s so strong and confident and I’M NOT. And suddenly, I remembered something I was supposed to be doing and let out a whole body cry of frustration.  

She looked at me with a look of wonder and horror, as if to say: “How old ARE you, anyway? THREE?”

In that flash, I got it, something I’ve been struggling with for decades. This is what self-will run riot looks like and I don’t have to fall victim to it anymore. I can let go. I can get into the darn river and go with the goddam flow.

Go Big or Go Bust: Day 140 (on the rest of life and BALANCE)

Three hours ago, we touched down at Newark Airport and I'm back at home in a modified state of shock.  For a person who hadn't really left her desk in almost eight years (unless it was for something Louise Log-related) these nineteen days of travel have been a very big deal. 

I'd forgotten that along with the exhilaration and excitement of travel come inconvenience and all sorts of challenges, especially for people with control issues.  And much as I've longed to get back home to my routine and to my uninterrupted access to cellular data and wifi, not having that forced me into a very different way of spending the days - mostly walking, hiking and driving in spectacularly beautiful country and having every meal with people I adore.

The silence and the beauty of British Columbia and New Zealand and almost uninterrupted time with one and then another of our grown children was ... I'm searching for the words and none of them are coming close.   Heartbreaking?  But in a good way. 

All of this is still very much in my head and body and making me think I want to make some changes.  I don't want to plunge back into workaholism.  I do want to figure out how to work in a sane way that leaves time for the rest of life. 

HOW DO YOU DO IT?