this morning, during my daily procrastination ritual, i keep coming upon references to one being a workaholic. first thing this morning, i opened up my unread copy of creative, inc., to exactly the spot where they list 'symptoms' of workaholism. let me tell you - i rank up there. i'm not a total lost cause yet, but i'm starting to wonder if i don't do something soon, just how bad it'll get.
i then, almost immediately after, came across a post on potter, whitney smith's blog. an amazing ceramicist, she's also super snarky and i love it. in this post, she compares being a workaholic to being an alcoholic. i have to say, the similarities between the two are quite striking:
from whitney's blog--
I've had to admit to myself that I am a workaholic. I resist that word because it seems like a word that would apply to somebody else doing different kind of work. But if I take some of the classic symptoms of alcoholism and apply them to work, it's hard to deny that I have a work problem. For example:
- I minimize how much time I actually spend working, the way an alcoholic minimizes how much he drinks.
- I don't count certain types of work as work, like listing stuff on etsy or cleaning my studio, the way an alcoholic may say that beer isn't really alcohol.
- I hide work, like snapping my computer shut and pretend like I was in the middle of doing something else when my husband walks into the room, and we all know alcoholics hide booze.
- And then the classic: does work make your home life unhappy? Yes, yes, and yes. My husband is an independent soul who doesn't allow me to dictate the mood at home, but there's no doubt I undermine his pleasure in life when I come home and whine about work, or worse, cry because the stress is getting to me.
this is absolutely true for me as well! it's bad. i've just been working myself like crazy these past few days and i am now sitting at my desk, thinking how i should be designing something, because i finally have a free minute. i'm almost reprimanding myself for writing this blog post!
i am kind of big on paying attention to the signs the universe throws your way, and after stumbling upon both of these glaringly obvious, and in my opinion, not coincidental, suggestions, i feel compelled to pay attention.
a while back, i sought advice from the amazing painter, janet hill, and she gave me a great tip - when inspiration isn't coming, go do something else. right now, i'm considering just that. i have no idea where this day is going to lead me, but i guess that's part of my job, and that's ok.
i hope you're all enjoying the short week out there! i think a workaholic like me might need to embrace it a little :) wish me luck!
image via galahad dumfries
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