“not working” at the moment

It’s a joke how I keep telling people I am “not working” at the moment and I feel I have never been busier… and not even much knitting to show for!

I have been getting quotes for various things that need fixing in the house. There has been lot’s of tidying and sorting, which feels good. There has been cooking of nice family meals and giving time to the kids. It seems that they have taken weeks to realize that I am available to listen and they have done a lot of talking, which is so valuable.

There have been almost daily work emails, despite “not working”… I have met up with various people from different industries about future work. Of course I have still been teaching at TAFE… and I have taken on the tutoring of 2 yr 11 boys in English, which I very much enjoy.

There have been endless medical appointments and procedures for more than half our family members that I had been putting off.

There has been a quick 4 day dash to the snow with Vincent. The weather was beautiful and the snow was great. I crashed down the slopes trying to keep up with Vincent on his snowboard… The sweet part of parenting… It was also wonderful to stay in the local Youth Hostel, I met so many fabulous women!

I managed the solo car drive just fine. It had worried me, to be honest… after crashing my car in March… but I did just fine.

In between all this I have been thinking… about the relationship of success, achievement and how often people are valued on the basis of both. I saw this and it made me mad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is success anyway? High achievers are not necessarily successful in my eyes, if they achieve through bullying and on the expense of others. And there are so many of those… And successful people can be inspiring, motivating and generous. But success and achievement require more than our mental attitude, there is luck, supportive environments, material security… And to make a general claim about what unsuccessful people are, and thus inferring why they are unsuccessful is just so awful.

Success is something personal. Everybody has their own yardstick. Success should not be a moral value we attach to people’s worth. (Off my soap box and getting on with chores).