The end is nigh

I just like that phrase. So gothic and epic … and Mayan. Just kidding.

(p.s. Following yesterday’s blog and some other recent ones, I start to wonder what is TMI or inappropriate for this forum. But, although I may have walked up to the line, and even then, I may not have, I don’t think I’ve crossed it. So – onward!)

My school inbox is being flooded with emails about graduation regalia, thesis submission costs, thesis filing information, invitations to the end of year event, etc. You’d think there were something a brewin, eh?

May 12^th I graduate. That’s about a month from now, and I’m stoked and terrified. Not terrified, just unclear.

In an effort to get more clear, today I’m going to be taking up a suggestion. A time map. You may call it a schedule. Part of my fear is based on my inability to take action – or not an “inability” per se, but a fear, simply of taking action. What if I try my best and fail? What if I turn down underpaying jobs and end up broke anyway? Shel Silverstein was a wise man when he wrote the poem “Whatif.”

So, to combat vagueness, and the three P’s (Perfectionism -> Procrastination -> Paralyzation), I’m going to work today to create a schedule for myself to include things like revenue generating time (i.e. looking for work); creative time; and grocery shopping(!).

Because without any structure of a 9-5, I’m not doing much of anything with my days. Sort of floating along, with class punctuating the vagueness (and homework not). I don’t like it. I feel then stressed in the 11^th hour, and I don’t have to. So, I’ll work with someone today to create a plan that includes play and self-care and work and effort and the scary things that elicit the above questions.

In a stroke of unexpectedness, I got an email from a gallery owner I know. I’d emailed her nearly 6 months ago to ask if she had any part-time work available and had never heard back. She emailed me yesterday with apologies. This, is something of a surprise, and I’m coming to notice “surprises” as little “G-d shots” as it were. She said she’d love to chat in person. Not sure that she has any work, but that’s not the point.

I mentioned to some folks last month that I would sweep the floor in an art gallery. I would adjust spreadsheets. I would do whatever job would get me into a world of art, artists, creativity. And, suddenly, here appears my acquaintance. I will follow up with her. Little actions produce big results. Is it a coincidence that I’m finally taking some action around work and this email comes in? Maybe.

I’ve decided that I’m not going to the interview at the job I have no interest in today. Mainly, it’s just f’ing dishonest. I’d be lying my ass off to get a job I don’t want. I had the recent experience with the modeling guild of lying and having it coming around to bite me – I think I’ve learned. Furthermore, despite other people’s vocal fears to me which run along the lines of “Just take it,” that is not my value. Not my personal value system, or the monetary and energetic value that I have to exchange.

This surely produces fear (TAKE THE CRUMBS!!!), but fuck the crumbs. I’ve been like Hansel and Gretel in the forest leading myself to the fiery pit of someone else’s oven by following crumbs. I don’t need the crumbs. I need the wiser idea of the stones on the path – the firmer, more appropriate, more honest way of being.

I have help to lay these stones if I avail myself of them, and so, I’m asking for help on the baby steps today. Feels a little silly to ask someone to sit with me while I make a map of my time, but I haven’t been able to do it on my own, and I need help. So, I’ll ask, I’ll receive, and I’ll change. G-d willing.