Midsummer.odt
A Halfway Checkpoint
i consider the year i've had so far, and i can't feel more than the immense gratitude i already feel daily. i'm six months into my unemployment, stepping away from corporate life in an attempt to rediscover my relationship with work, and it's gone so quickly. i've launched one project while nurturing a side/learning project (in an attempt to upskill), breathing life into another attempt at self-sustainability in work. i'm reassessing how i approach work in all forms. i'm testing when i work best. what environments i excel in. what i yearn for in work.
we do not live to work, so i'm trying to figure out how to make work fit my life.
to throw a wrench into this, though, i'm about to go through with my second wrist surgery, curing my severe and critical (for my right and left wrists, respectively) carpal tunnel syndrome that accelerated quickly from first symptoms last year. having this time off has allowed me to truly take my health into account, especially as i glide into my mid-30s. it's important or something. but this surgery is a bit scarier even though i know what to expect more this time; there's always a risk of permanent nerve damage that will leave my hand tingling for the rest of my life. and this one is my dominant hand, so i feel particularly attached to it (though do not tell my left hand—i still love you sm).
there's so much i'm learning about shipping and e-commerce due to good internet, and though it's all good lessons, i'm always concerned about everyone being satisfied. especially since folks are paying for them. these surgeries happening concurrently with good internet's launch certainly did not help matters, but this entire thing has been incredibly rewarding, especially seeing the finished product in folks' hands. reading the stories submitted, placing the pages—it's all been such a lovely exercise in creativity for me that's been missing lately. (though i do hope for help down the road; i am surely not the best designer for this!)
these past six months have been full, and that's the best i can ask for: full of life, full of love, full of joy. and, with all the horrible atrocities happening around us, having joy if even for a moment feels poignant albeit fleeting and revolutionary in and of itself.