rained in

Tags

domestic goddess, drops of rain, Dublin, miscellaneous, outdoors, play, random, thoughts, weatehr

I had plans today, I wanted to cycle down to the Botanic gardens and enjoy a stroll around the flowerbeds, camera in hand ready to be inspired. Sadly the sun only played peek-a-boo this morning and has made way for heavy drops of rain. Every now and then she may shine a few rays down on us to see if she can tease us to come out only to let rain enjoy a game of “lets soak them”.

I feel cheated out of my plans and want to stamp my foot in rage and yell “I hate you” while sulking with folded arms and a big frown on my face. I know it can’t be helped and I know the weatherman has no control over where the clouds go but somehow I really want to blame someone.

Having no one to blame and no one to entertain me I am at loss at what to do. Of course there are a multitude of things I could and even some I should do but I don’t want to (again a toddler strop is building up inside me). I should clean the house, wipe the floors, get out the duster and be a domestic goddess clad in a pinny and headscarf, I should start work on an article I have been avoiding and I should really do some filing. I could work on my novel, take out my paints and start on a few things I have been thinking about, I could read, watch TV or a film. I just don’t want to!

Sadly, as nothing tickles my fancy I am stuck with being annoyed about something I just can’t change. Not a happy place to be in nor a pleasant feeling to let fester inside. But like me, at least for now, it is stuck just there hoping the rain will pass and I can go out and play, even if it means getting my feet wet and dirty.

heigh ho, heigh ho

Tags

disney, emailers, free-time, heavy thoughts, home, miscellaneous, play, random, thoughts, travel, work, worst case scenario

We all have to work, earn money to pay for things we need, want and sometimes just crave. Sadly work isn’t always fun, and more often than not we get stuck with doing things we really don’t want to. As I was filing away things yesterday, a task I hate but I hate it even more when it’s not done, my mind wandered off back to a time when the question:”what do you want to be” seemed so harmless and everything was possible.

I know it is unusual for a child to know what they want to DO but I always have, however what I want to BE is an entirely different matter.  As I was pondering the difference between being and doing I realised that the question asked is all wrong. By asking what we want to BE makes us define who we are by what we do and not by what we feel, think and love. By that measure most of us would be administrators, filer-awayers or listeners-to-long-winded-recordings/waiting-music and emailers. After all most of us spend more time doing anything but what we want to, even in creative jobs you spend lots of time filling in forms, doing paperwork and applying for the next project.

With that said as you grow up, you realise that you have to take the bad with the good and learn to accept that you may only be doing the “fun” bit half of the time if you are lucky. But that still shouldn’t doesn’t mean that that is who we are, just what we do.

If we define who we are by what we do all day long it means our work becomes our life and everything that happens, good and bad, becomes personal. In the worst case scenario it means if we lose our job, we lose our identity and it does make us a little bit one dimensional and boring. After-all do others really want to talk about what we do all day long? Probably not.

A lot of us struggle with freeing ourselves from our daily work, our minds lug the heavy thoughts of how things should be, could be or aren’t done at work, home with us and occupy our thoughts even when we ought to be relaxing and unwinding. Interestingly enough most even quote the famous seven dwarfs song as Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho it’s off to work we go when in actual fact it really is: home from work we go

The only way to avoid being what we do is to be and do other things. Hobbies can help, meeting lots of other people, travel and widening our horizons will make us a more rounded, educated us and then of course there is our inner being.

By seeking happiness not wealth, by enjoying laughter not things, by loving, hugging and creating memories to last a lifetime we become the US we want to BE. By nurturing what makes us unique and one of a kind helps us find out who we are and helps us be just that. So maybe the chorus from that famous Disney song: “Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho it’s home from work we go“ should remind us that: yes working is important but going home is the song and dance that life is really about.

work and play

Tags

brain, celebrate, dance, Germany, labour day, may day, maypole, play, rest, stress, Tanz in den Mai, traditions, work

On the first of May Germany celebrates International Workers’ Day, funnily enough by staying home and not working at all. But the much nicer tradition the busy German worker bees observe is “Der Tanz in den Mai” (The Dance into May).

On the eve of May first there are parties everywhere and people dance around bonfires, drink copious amounts of alcohol and welcome the warmer time of year back into the world. This pagan festival is also where the raising and dancing around the maypole comes from. There is also another lovely tradition which allows young virile men to vandalize the woods and neighbourhood gardens, by digging up small birch trees and then planting them outside the window of their beloved.

As this week has been quite busy for me and although I stayed at home on said day it was to work and not play, a proper labour day. And every time I look out my window no lovely little birch-tree reminds me that I am loved, not even a branch telling me I’m liked. Sadly playing has to wait for a while, I even had to move my flight to Hamburg from yesterday to Saturday morning, and work is the what I have to do from morn till night. But as I sit at my desk and pretend to be a grown-up I can’t help my mind from straying and wanting to bunk off.

We all know that it is important to take a break from work and recharge our batteries, but few of us really understand why. The brain is a muscle and like any muscle it needs to work out (think/stress) to get stronger but it also needs rest to be able to grow (sleep/breaks). An interesting study even shows that a brain that is put under periods of stress with adequate times of rest in between seems to be better at fighting off dementia, epilepsy and migraines.

But what is adequate rest? The right amount of sleep is really important, however a vacation for more than a week helps the brain forget about the daily stress and relax even better. But a good distraction like an engaging book, an entertaining film or a challenging hobby can give our brains the rest we need to be able to let our minds deal with work. Even as little as five minutes away from the desk, doing something completely different, helps the brain refocus and see new ways of doing things, mini-vacations to de-stress if you will. That is why those daily coffee-breaks are so all important, not just for all the smokers out there but for everyone.

As I am under time-pressure and my deadline is looming I can’t afford to kick-back and take time to sit and read for hours and escape into the fictional world of books, or flit down to the cinema and watch a film and flying off to Germany is more of a family visit than a much needed Holiday. Even my sleep time has been reduced down to the maximum minimum. But I do litter my day with spontaneous breaks in which I dance to music in my living room, read a short magazine article while drinking a cup of tea or make a quick moany phone-call to a friend to vent.

So back to work I go, hi-ho, and play will have to wait for another day, or at least till my desire for tea drives me to the kettle or a good song on the CD makes it impossible for my feet to stay still.