It’s been a while since my last update, so the big news first: I have a new job! That starts at the end of August, which feels a long way away. Which is, actually, perfect, since I will have time to wrap up a few of my current projects before plunging into the challenge of starting at a new company while everyone is 100% remote still. Those projects include:
- Four online learning things
- Five organizations I’m ostensibly volunteering for
- Knitting (although I actually finished two projects this past week, and for the next little bit I’ll just be making some hats as gifts; those go quickly)
- Writing (remember that?)
And this week I’m going to a climate crisis training thing in the evenings. Virtually, of course. So for the next two or three months, my main goal is to finish off as much of this stuff as I can, and try not to immediately replace all of them with new obligations. I will never not be a person with a lot going on, but I can and should scale back so I can actually enjoy the things I’m doing.
It’s tempting to get annoyed at myself for letting the list get out of control. I’ve had several coaching conversations in the past week about how to prioritize it, what I should walk away from, what I should keep and why. I’m trying for a positive spin on things today: Hey me, look at all of the stuff you have tried out lately!
Some of it hasn’t led anywhere yet, and maybe it’s not going to, but that doesn’t mean it was wasted effort. I’ve learned a lot about a lot of things, and if one of those things was “this isn’t for me,” that’s fine. It is perfectly reasonable to take those lessons and move on to something else. The prospect of a trimmed schedule is giving me something to look forward to as we slouch through the mid-summer heat waves.
In other news, the garden is doing well. I’ve made two batches of pesto so far this summer, and the tomato is getting some fruit. (It is also enormous, and needs a ton of water in this weather.) My little indoor pepper started fruiting a couple of weeks ago, and now they’ve begun turning red. There, too, I am learning.
R Jean Stevenson 