If you want to improve be content to be thought foolish and stupid ~ Epictetus
Due to the completion of my second Masters essay (only one module and three essays to go, woohoo!) I gave myself the 'weekend off' and so I've spent this weekend doing, well, not much really.
Meeting new people involves certain types of conversations. On the first time there's the name, what you do, why you're in [Pescara], what you think of [Pescara]. Then in the meetings that follow there are more specific questions about what you do for work, in your spare time, your family etc. And then the question that I'm stuck on at the moment...How long are you going to be in Pescara?
Argh.
I don't know. I am leaning towards saying a year and a half and I suppose, as someone who has always trusted her instincts - I always wanted my first teaching post to be of two years and change school...I did one year and three-quarters which is close enough! - that's what it will be. But then. Oh my, what to do in that year and a half. It means that in September 2014 I will be somewhere else. And yes, that is a long way off yet, but when you need/want something you have to prepare for it. In order for me to make the best out of my time here and now, I need to work with who I know I am now and and try and work out who I want to be in the future so I can prepare to be that future person and get good at it.
I suppose one could say "Life is like a piece of computer software", rather than Forrest Gump's "box of chocolates". I have to update, so lets say that I'm Laura v. 26. The most recent update brought a focus on preparation and personal development in the form of the Masters, the Piano lessons, the Italian lessons, the Kick Boxing, and therefore the lack of "spare" time, whatever that means anyway. And so now, I'm working as Laura v. 26, but I am developing Laura v. 27 which will probably iron out any glitches in v. 26 (and hopefully be a bit more exciting!). And by Laura v. 28, to be installed in September 2014, there will be a physical change, like when Apple changes the layout of iTunes and everything's in the wrong place for a while and I get angry and frustrated at not knowing where things are but the update always turns out to be better than the previous version.
Sometimes "updates" are forced on us, and sometimes they are a choice. My iPod and iTunes have been telling me that there's a new update, to v 6.0.03i92340984 or something. I've only just got used to the changes of the last version so I'm putting it off, not doing it. But eventually it'll do it automatically, the dreaded "automatic update". That's because the developers at Apple understand that if you don't move things forward, where are you going to go?
I'll have a new colleague at work soon, that's an automatic update I can't control. But I can control how that update affects the next chapter of my job. I can ignore the update, work against it, pretend it hasn't happened, or I can work with it, see what new things my new colleague will bring and go from there. Of course it's hard to "update", automatically or by choice. You move out your 'comfort zone', and away from things that are known. Crikey, Laura v. 25 had a lot more freedom, evenings out, dinners with friends, skiing trips whereas Laura v. 26 flits from one place to the other with the trusty bicycle spending the evenings studying and sleeping.
So, I return to my second dreaded question when I've just met a new person:
What are you going to do when you leave Pescara? Return to London?
I normally shrug my shoulders and say the infamous "bhooo!". In reality, it's appealing. BUT right now it makes me feel physically sick even thinking about it. I'm not for that World right now, I don't have the skills to survive the London life without killing myself (as losing a lot of weight due to stress and crying practically everyday proved to me). But who knows, maybe the updates between Laura v. 26 and v. 28 will provide me with just the right skills I need to survive so that I will be able to do it, get the Penthouse overlooking the Thames with a grand-piano in a room that has floor-to-ceiling windows...ahhh....one can dream :-)
Meeting new people involves certain types of conversations. On the first time there's the name, what you do, why you're in [Pescara], what you think of [Pescara]. Then in the meetings that follow there are more specific questions about what you do for work, in your spare time, your family etc. And then the question that I'm stuck on at the moment...How long are you going to be in Pescara?
Argh.
I don't know. I am leaning towards saying a year and a half and I suppose, as someone who has always trusted her instincts - I always wanted my first teaching post to be of two years and change school...I did one year and three-quarters which is close enough! - that's what it will be. But then. Oh my, what to do in that year and a half. It means that in September 2014 I will be somewhere else. And yes, that is a long way off yet, but when you need/want something you have to prepare for it. In order for me to make the best out of my time here and now, I need to work with who I know I am now and and try and work out who I want to be in the future so I can prepare to be that future person and get good at it.
I suppose one could say "Life is like a piece of computer software", rather than Forrest Gump's "box of chocolates". I have to update, so lets say that I'm Laura v. 26. The most recent update brought a focus on preparation and personal development in the form of the Masters, the Piano lessons, the Italian lessons, the Kick Boxing, and therefore the lack of "spare" time, whatever that means anyway. And so now, I'm working as Laura v. 26, but I am developing Laura v. 27 which will probably iron out any glitches in v. 26 (and hopefully be a bit more exciting!). And by Laura v. 28, to be installed in September 2014, there will be a physical change, like when Apple changes the layout of iTunes and everything's in the wrong place for a while and I get angry and frustrated at not knowing where things are but the update always turns out to be better than the previous version.
Sometimes "updates" are forced on us, and sometimes they are a choice. My iPod and iTunes have been telling me that there's a new update, to v 6.0.03i92340984 or something. I've only just got used to the changes of the last version so I'm putting it off, not doing it. But eventually it'll do it automatically, the dreaded "automatic update". That's because the developers at Apple understand that if you don't move things forward, where are you going to go?
I'll have a new colleague at work soon, that's an automatic update I can't control. But I can control how that update affects the next chapter of my job. I can ignore the update, work against it, pretend it hasn't happened, or I can work with it, see what new things my new colleague will bring and go from there. Of course it's hard to "update", automatically or by choice. You move out your 'comfort zone', and away from things that are known. Crikey, Laura v. 25 had a lot more freedom, evenings out, dinners with friends, skiing trips whereas Laura v. 26 flits from one place to the other with the trusty bicycle spending the evenings studying and sleeping.
So, I return to my second dreaded question when I've just met a new person:
What are you going to do when you leave Pescara? Return to London?
I normally shrug my shoulders and say the infamous "bhooo!". In reality, it's appealing. BUT right now it makes me feel physically sick even thinking about it. I'm not for that World right now, I don't have the skills to survive the London life without killing myself (as losing a lot of weight due to stress and crying practically everyday proved to me). But who knows, maybe the updates between Laura v. 26 and v. 28 will provide me with just the right skills I need to survive so that I will be able to do it, get the Penthouse overlooking the Thames with a grand-piano in a room that has floor-to-ceiling windows...ahhh....one can dream :-)
A great way to look at life, I was recently going to ask my fb friends 'apart from a box of chocolates, what would you say your life is like?' computer software is a geeky answer, but nowt wrong with that! :)
ReplyDeleteI would say mine is like going for a run. You have some say in what happens, but lots happens that is unexpected (weather, dogs, blocked routes, injuries, wierd encounters, etc.) What you get from it vary's greatly depending on how you choose to react, or in other words your attitude makes a massive difference to the experience. All you can do is: enjoy the journey, live in the moment (not the past or the future), dont push yourself too hard but dont be too lazy either... I could use this analogy for pretty much anything that happens in my life.
Ha, it is a bit geeky isn't it, showing my true geekiness ;-) But 'Life is like a run'...I like that. You definitely focus on the present when you're running and adjust your focus of that present depending on the length of the run, short distance sprint, 10km etc. You aren't going to complete a 10km with the same mentality as a sprint but for both the focus has to be in the here and now.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what other metaphors there are?