For those of you who are curious about my year off, it has been going swimmingly.  I am going back to work in October (2009) and my passion for my work seems to be coming back in full force. I have been doing a bunch of art projects, taking naps, working on cleaning things we have never cleaned since we bought the house, taking naps, hanging out with friends, and reading lots and lots of perfectly worthless books. Rick and I go on morning dates to the local coffee house almost every day and go on walks in the forest at Hartman Nature Preserve or very long bike rides every single day except when it was so cold that we would freeze our butts off if we went. (And have I mentioned taking naps?)

 

    I have also been doing a lot at the community theater. In January I acted in a play at the children's theater--Anne of Green Gables. Then I was the stage manager for the Velveteen Rabbit. Even before I finished doing the Velveteen Rabbit gig, I tried out for a part in Rumplestiltskin, so then I had a small part in that play. Although that might have been a little much theater (even for me), it was still a blast! Jacob was even on the props/shift crew for Velveteen Rabbit (his first theatrical venture) and for Rumplestiltskin, and he has decided that he will “always” be on crews until he graduates from high school.

 

  I participated in a writing coaching group that met once a week for three months via phone with Jennifer Louden, who wrote The Comfort Queen's Guide to Life and several other self-help books. I am working on writing a proposal to send to publishers for a pop psychology/self-help book based on Adlerian principles--it is tentatively called Retelling Our Life Stories; a self-help/personal growth book called How Will I Live My Life If I Believe I Am Enough?, and a supernatural mystery (my first fiction). It is very very fun.

 

   All of this sounds like a lot, but it is a joy to get to stay home and do whatever I feel like doing on any particular day. I even have whole days several times a week every week with nothing written in my appointment book. Altogether I am amazingly happy, relaxed, and peaceful (my back is even feeling better most of the time), and I am very glad that I am taking the year off.  I have begun re-designing my work life to make sure that I stay balanced & excited about things I want to do–saying “YES!” to those and “NO” to other things.

My Year Off