Same but Different

It's the same time, but not the same road. Similar work, but not the same desk, not the same view! Like water, I've poured myself into another vase to take a new form.

My life since the second half of 2023 was a slow drive, looking at birds and butterflies, enjoying the newness of being a published poet.

This spring season, I have changed the gear, taken the right turn onto the fast lane.

I've been here before, but I feel ready to look at my familiar landscapes from a whole new APERTURE!

Last year, I made a decision to move away from the corporate burnout, to choose clearly between designing and management. I kept an open diary, took it easy and worked on some small scale freelance projects.

But it was by serendipity that I came across a new opportunity and I decided to give it a shot. Financial independence is very very important to me. I cannot allow myself to be financially dependent on my husband. That's how my sister and I have been raised. I'm not comfortable just being a fancy artist and a poet and not a professional. Hence I've accepted this new route that promises to let me stay very close to landscape design, at the same time, allowing me time to focus on the artist and poet parts of me. I won't call it a 'lazy girl job’ but I hope to sidestep the burnout and prioritize “life ”in the work-life balance. Plus the big bucks!

My first item from the new year resolution list has definitely been ticked off. Lets just say, as long as the mind and body can take it, keep working, earning, saving and leading a financially and creatively fulfilling life. Of course, fitting everything from the laid back life into the new routines is a challenge. So I’m trying to keep jogging and fast walking, if not running!

This option is surely better than waiting around for a freelance project for weeks, or not making much by the end of the month, leaving you feeling dissatisfied. Also better than being in a highly corporate set up, having no design time, being answerable to rude managers, having to justify the smallest design decisions and carrying the burden of a too long professional relationship with one company!

Change is good. Different is better than the same! Sometimes changing the surroundings is more effective than changing yourself! How same, how different, is always a question…

I am going to keep drifting with the flow and trying to find my niche again, looking out from this new APERTURE.

#newjob #worklifebalance #professional #notjustpoet #financialfreedom 

:: Through a new APERTURE ::