Frydmania

Giving it all away

October 20th, 2007

Back to another of my families, the work one, and some fairly momentous news.  Not only are we finally gaining one new post (or rather, half the time of two different people), I get to give away some of my work…

It’s been pretty full on for the last three years, one way or another.  Former devotees of my birthday parties may have noticed there hasn’t been one for a while, partly due to the combination of work deadlines around the same time…and so on. 

Finally, it seems, we’ll get to stop running a big course we normally do in July, I’ll stop doing my Ireland work (and so avoid hanging out with demob happy teachers over a weekend in early February…), and even give away probably around a third of my workload of students.

Two or three days on from the announcement of the work plan by my manager, I’m getting used to the concept.  Less time away from home.  Fewer deadlines hitting me all at the same time.  Hopefully no budget to run for a while. 

There is a loss to these things too.  It can become too easy to base your image on what you do, and when you show you can cope with silly amounts of work, it can also become an identity, even if not a very healthy one.

However, it should hopefully mean, among other things, that I can become a little friendlier to our students again, because there’ll be a little more of me to share around c. 500 of them than there is around c. 750.  Still too many, really, but more people to take the strain, which should be really good.

I will miss having an overview of all the countries we work with.  But I can finally do some of what I’ve been asking to do: start offering opportunities up to new people coming in, gain a bit of enthusiasm back from them as they start to get to know the work.

Maybe I’ll do some new stuff.  There’s plenty of communications work that I can see needs doing.  But perhaps I can work out how to keep a bit more of a balance.  In the past, I felt compelled to do stuff because I ’saw it needed doing’.  The last few months in particular have made me more wary, more keen to conserve energy for other things.

This evening we went to see the film ‘Ratatouille’ at the cinema.  It was funny, it was clever, all that great Pixar stuff.  But it was also about passion, about the things we love doing, and are good at, and doing those whole heartedly.

I love cooking, so the film was a happy message as far as I was concerned.  But I also love writing.  Music.  Reading.  Being with family.  Going for walks in the sunshine on autumn days (as we did this morning with my parents).  Because there is time for these too.  There should be.  And thankfully, it looks like there will be. 

Entry Filed under: Family, Home