training penguins

I misread this as trading penguins. My first thought was, "billytea would never trade a penguin! He loves them."

---

Jilli is entirely right.

But I do understand Susan's frustration. I vividly remember being just furiously indignant to receive a 'Happy Administrator's Day' card, while I was working in an office. Most unreasonably. Because, as far as the people in the office were concerned, I was an administrator. Fair enough. But from my pov it felt like a kick in the nuts, and I felt all Drama Queeny and 'OMG, this isn't who I am! This is just what I do! I'm not just a mediocre administrator, goddamnit!'

So - yeah, I understand the feeling of frustration. But Jilli is RIGHT like a right thing that it doesn't matter about what other people think.

And I would say this: if you were doing a job you enjoyed more, and found more fulfilling, you would quite likely have/make less time and energy and creativity for your writing. (Speaking as someone who's always wanted to be a published writer and has a couple of unfinished novels growing dusty somewhere on a back burner.) So, perversely, that's not neccesarily a bad thing.

---

I think the thing that helps me is to remember that THIS IS YOUR LIFE. There's no magic door you get to walk through at some point to your Real Life, when everything will better. It NEVER HAPPENS. THIS is your life, so you've got to find some happiness in it, even if you simply start by saying, "I don't care what anyone thinks of what I'm doing."

This.

Also? Say, "I'm working at This Place, and I'm also writing a novel." Easy. You'd be surprised how many people would rather be painting, singing, designing flatware, training penguins, or whatever, instead of what they do to pay for groceries.

And very much this.

I don't think that there's a single one of us that doesn't take crap about what we do for a living in one way or another, nor do any of us love our jobs all of--or hell, MOST of--the time. Yes, we live in a culture that tends to define us by our work, but we don't have to buy into that. Who we are as people has to be more than that. Yes, I am a teacher. And I write, though I'm barely published. But I'm more than the sum of my parts, and so are you. I believe that developing that comfort in your own skin, that sense of who you are regardless of what you're doing to earn a living, is the true key to a happy life.

---

I want to juggle fruitbats.

There, I've said it.

---

Well, some people juggle geese.

---

Coffee:

And I would say this: if you were doing a job you enjoyed more, and found more fulfilling, you would quite likely have/make less time and energy and creativity for your writing. (Speaking as someone who's always wanted to be a published writer and has a couple of unfinished novels growing dusty somewhere on a back burner.) So, perversely, that's not neccesarily a bad thing.

THIS! So much this. That's the position I'm in right now, and there are times I would KILL for a boring job in order to have the creative energy to write in my free time.

---

What is this "free time" you all keep referencing?

---

Hush, you.

---

I've spent way too much energy in my life worrying about what other people think of me. I'm in awe of people that have figured out a way not to care.

The key to it, I think, is realizing that most people don't spend a lot of time thinking about other people. All those people that you worry about thinking poorly of you? Are probably busy worrying about their own issues, or worrying about what everyone else is thinking of them, and spend very little time thinking about you.

---

All those people that you worry about thinking poorly of you? Are probably busy worrying about their own issues, or worrying about what everyone else is thinking of them, and spend very little time thinking about you.

Unless they are my sister. She finds time for all of that. And more.

---