Committing Career Suicide

Life is funny how it can throw you some fantastic dilemmas. In comparison to many people my dilemma isn't that bad, in fact it is lovely. The question is: do I or don't I commit career suicide? For those who follow my blogs, you will be aware that I usually work as a business analyst and innovator and then in my spare time enjoy writing books and blogs. The books are my creative release, so they will continue being written because writing is a compulsion. I can't not do it.

So here is the dilemma:
I have taken the opportunity for redundancy - great. Now the world is now full of possibility. I finished work last week and this week I have been invited to return to cruise ships to work on board in a writing capacity. It sounds fantastic; however, it will involve working ten hour days, seven days a week for four months in a row. What's more the money isn't very good. I can cover my mortgage and live relatively frugally and circumnavigate the world. The thing with writing all the time is that you don't have a lot left for your own creative writing. Of course everything on board is taken care of. I have worked on ships for years previously and enjoyed it. The reason I returned to 'real life' was because one of the ships I was working on almost sunk in Antarctica. That potential catastrophe made me re-evaluate existence and return to land to live a 'safe-ish' life. Of course the week I returned I managed to cycle in a swarm of twenty thousand bees. Yep! That is apparently the safe life! Over the last twelve years I have to admit writing became my escape from the mundane and boredom of corporate culture.

Taking to the seas again provides wonderful potential for adventure while working in a creative writing capacity. It seems like a wonderful dream; although the reality of being on board is entirely different.  At the same day I have been approached to work in Germany for 5 months as a business analyst earning huge money using my skills as a business analyst, innovator and project manager. Following that I was then called up and asked by a company to work in London on a huge innovation financial project - big money and lots of stress. Finally another local project role approached - easy to get to and could be a little dull. Isn't it nice to be in demand... Of course I am still waiting for the right one to land and nothing is definite yet. Of course these sequence of events got me thinking and asking questions. The thing is this is life and what do you want to say when you are on your death-bed: yes I earned loads of money or I experienced every day fully and saw the world? I am lucky because I am free to follow any route because I have no commitments. That is why I am so tempted to commit the career suicide and just go and travel again. The inspiration, the potential blogs and the idea of the experience thrills me. The thing is when you work four months on and two months off you can focus completely on writing during your leave time... So you may not think this is a dilemma, the thing is by stepping away from business analysis is like committing career suicide. By not living fully one is committing another type of spiritual death.

In addition to all of this, Elora, The One-Winged Fairy - The Last Baby Giggle has completed audio production by Lisa Hicks and is in its evaluation and approval phase. So that is exciting and I have been having a strong desire to write the follow up to Money Farm (the brave new world of finance). You know what? It is as if the universe has taken a laxative... So the question is what would you do? Commit career suicide or follow the path of financial increase combined with the mundane?

Enjoy my audio books at the following link:

http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_hp_tseft?advsearchKeywords=Ruby+allure&filterby=field-keywords&x=0&y=0

http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/Money-Farm-Audiobook/B010BOM9A8/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1471072677&sr=1-2

 

AUDIO LINK: http://www.audible.com/pd/Kids/The-Hairy-Legged-Mystery-Audiobook/B01H2HF0XU/ref=a_search_c4_1_2_srTtl?qid=1471619538&sr=1-2

ELORA, THE ONE WINGED FAIRY AND THE LAST BABY GIGGLE LINK:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elora-One-Winged-Fairy-Last-Giggle-ebook/dp/B01KYHM1G4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472123774&sr=8-1&keywords=Elora+the+one+winged+fairy

A fantasy fairy fiction novel for girls aged 8 and older...

It is TIME for YOU TIME!

You Time…

 

Is it really that indulgent to have time by yourself? To spend time alone and allow yourself the time to process your life and your experiences?  The thing is life gains momentum and becomes busier and busier. There is more to experience, more to distract yourself with, more social media than you can shake a stick at and more on the to do list than can be ticked. No matter how tick-tastic you are there is always more ticks to be added to the list. This seems to be how life has become and amongst the endless treadmill of experience and things to do – when do you allow yourself to be bored or to simply dream.

 

 

It was over the last few months that I realised that I was running on the fastest speed of the mental treadmill. I worked full time, in the evenings I listened and edited my audio books whilst writing my next book, socialising, promoting and marketing. All of this gradually became overwhelming to the point where I was becoming moody. There were endless appointments coming in and I found myself booked up for three months. The prospect of that made me feel like crying. I had stopped enjoying being out with people, instead I just wanted to get it over and done with. In my moments between blogging, writing, promoting and doing spreadsheets I would manage to fit in a bit of nutrition. It then occurred to me that I was not the only person who was living a life like this. Most of my friends were. In addition, some had weddings to organise and children to juggle. They were all running at full speed through life.

 

 

Last week I went to a baby blessing, a lovely event out in the forest with my best friend. Towards the end of the picnic she turned to me with an expression that revealed she was ecstatic but worn out. She stared me in the eyes and said ‘I NEED A TWILIGHT SPA!’ she didn’t care how much it cost, but she simply needed five hours out of the endless race that she felt she was competing against herself in. Her desperate need for time out triggered something in me because by the end of that weekend I had listened to 30 hours of my audio books and by Monday I was just ‘done’. Even though I had achieved a monumental feat I was moody and grizzly. It was then that I realised that I had had enough. I needed quiet time and I needed to schedule it in. So where was there space? I looked at my diary and realised that evenings were filled. Work had to be produced and the only time I could make me time was from 6 in the morning until 7.30. It was then that I decided that me time involved doing something I loved. I needed to start the day with something that inspired me and took me out of my mind back into body.

 

 

After a bit of thinking I came to a conclusion and I began stand up paddle boarding before work. Sitting watching sunrise on the sea from a stand up paddleboard really puts everything in perspective. There you are in a vast natural open space bobbing about like a small cork. The act of stand up paddle boarding takes you out of your head and back into body. For the first time in ages I felt connected and not in a mental and physical churn. Admittedly many people consider getting up so early madness, yet it is what I needed. My state of mind has shifted from churn to calm and the generated anxiety has stopped turning up. Now, from a calm and removed perspective, I can see how many people need the space for them but never quite find the space. When you don’t have that space to process your thoughts and experience you find that you are on a slippery road to burn out. I could see that I was heading in that fiery direction. So today I wanted to write about the fact that finding space to come out of the mind and be in a physical space through yoga, meditation, paddle boarding or simply journaling has to be one of the best things for you. Otherwise one builds resentment and time, the new wealth, feels as though it flies by. So my question is why do so many think it is indulgent to have time for yourself…  Time to be with you because then you will have more to give others.

 

 

LINK TO MONEY FARM:

 http://www.audible.com.au/pd/Fiction/Money-Farm-Audiobook/B010BKZK5I

"Smartly Written, Thought Provoking Read!"

Narration - Helen Lloyd - Kick A$$!
Really Great Narration - Brits and Aussies and Germans and more. Lovely voice to listen to and she even captured the rather robotic nature of the cult-like members of the Money Farm.

This is a really terrific book - and is it bad that for the majority of the book I was thinking "sign me up!" (or at least sign up one of my grand-kids and let me move into one of the retirement neighborhoods).

The Money's are all 'their best selves' due to the nutrition and fitness requirements along with a few other treatments along the way which are tailored to each individual and allow them to reach their full potential. All their needs are met, they have no debts, no worries, they are appreciated and they all live in really nice digs. (like I said...sign me up!)

It's a smartly written and thought provoking book of a Dystopian/Eutopian society where our heroine Jyllian finds her-self jobless with her savings running out. She ends up being selected to join the M.O.N.E.Y.'s as a "breaker" because of her intelligent & rebellious way of thinking. She is to challenge their systems and find ways to break them, all in the name of making them better.

The story follows her and a few other select characters through their introduction to Money, their training, their indoctrination and ultimately through their discovery of what Money's goals really are.

I can't really say much more without giving away too much, but I thought it was a really terrific book. It was hard for me to 'get into it' in the beginning, but I plan to listen to the start again.

It's smartly written and filled with intricate details about these two "worlds". Really an interesting book about the state of the worlds finances! Loved it! I'm actually stunned that I'm only the second review of this book on Goodreads. READ or LISTEN to it! It's a keeper!

I received a copy of this audiobook free of charge from Audiobookblast in exchange for an unbiased review.