Katryna and I officially launched How to Be an Adult yesterday at Broadside Books in Northampton, MA. It was pouring rain and so hard to find a parking space that Katryna didn't arrive until about 40 minutes into the reading. She had a good idea (she's full of good ideas): to sing a song that went along thematically with the section I was reading. The book is divided into an introduction and five parts.
1. Vocation and Avocation (everything from figuring out what you want to be when you grow up to how to put together a resume to the importance of failure)
2. The Vehicle that Is You (the life-coachy section of the book, all about self care)
3. Bloom Where You Are Planted (how to rent an apartment, choose and get along with housemates, keep your place clean, shop for groceries and cook yummy healthy food-recipes included)
4. Money, Cars, Insurance and a Bunch of Other Boring Stuff (just that)
5. Other People (includes a section on democracy, voting with your pocketbook and all sorts of relationship advice)
I read the section on Voting with Your Pocketbook before Katryna arrived; then I read the section on dating and we sang "Tailspin." For the preface to Vocation and Avocation, we sang "Night Rider's Lament" and for "Carpet Therapy" and "Smile Yoga" (in "Eight Cheap Forms Of Therapy") we sang "When I'm Here." Someone at the reading suggested we put together a play list to go along with the book. As soon as someone explains to me how to do that, I will!
We asked for questions and answers (since we need answers as much as we need questions) and didn't get many (or any). So I am extending this invitation to you readers to please ask us questions. We will research until we find answers. And we will ask YOU questions too.
Question of the Day: How hard is it to find a neighborhood bank that gives you compound interest on a savings account?
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2 comments:
One thing you talked about was the different issues involved in having a vocation and an avocation, versus having a vocation that is your avocation. And you mentioned that in the latter case you, at least, find that "everything is grist for the mill", so that "work" blends pretty much seamlessly into "everyday life".
At another point you mentioned that one thing to do to support oneself is to take time off. ("Keep a sabbath", you called, which I heard as "once a week take time out").
I'm in the vocation=avocation bucket, more or less, although it's not so much that my avocation is my vocation (though in a sense it is, since I love writing programs and I do a lot of that in my work), as that I work from home and set my own schedule and work is flexible and I also have many projects I "work" on that really are avocation and it all tends to blend together into one big blur so that, most of the time, the weekend is when I try to get "caught up", rather than a time to rest.
(That paragraph wasn't purposely a run-on sentence, but I'm not going to edit it because it makes for a kind of writerly meta-pun.)
I need time off from my avocations and tasks-of-life as much as from the stuff that brings in the money. I do take time, but I take it in small chunks here and there, and I guess I'm wondering if you have any words of wisdom about making the breaks more re-energizing.
So, my question is, how do you manage the process of taking time off? If work blends seamlessly into life, what techniques do use, what rules (if any) do you set for yourself, in order to feel that time off, and get re-energized by it?
And if the answer is in the book, you can just tell me that; I haven't read it yet :)
This is an excellent question. And I haven't written too much about it, because I am completely baffled about how to really, truly rest in a way that feels satisfying and real. This weekend, I went "on vacation" to the Adirondacks with my family. Usually, when I go to the Adirondacks, (and when I go anywhere on "vacation") I spend a lot of time outdoors, exercising, being with nature. I also tend to work while on vacation: writing, bringing my guitar, reading, diligently doing my self-care disciplines (meditation, journaling, yoga, Pilates, etc.) Because I'm pregnant and having some issues with my back, I was unable to exercise much at all, and I found myself taking copious naps. This resulted in my feeling guilty a lot, and I made up for it by doing some reading for a client and playing a lot of guitar. So did I really take a vacation? The proof will be in the pudding, so to speak. If I find in a day or two that my energy is good, that my ideas are running fresh, then the answer will be yes. Maybe taking copious naps was exactly what I needed to do, even though it didn't feel wholesome at the time.
I'd LOVE to hear from others on this topic!
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