Thursday, June 10, 2010

"Who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble, for every stupid struggle, I don't know".

I'm doing some more temp work, tiding myself over, trying to make ends meet, trying to keep afloat. This last month or two has been really rough. I'm still holding onto London, to being here and putting a life together here - for however long - but it's really becoming a battle to stay.

This temp job I'm doing right now is killing my soul, and also, just making it all-too-clear to me that I'm not cut out for office work, for ANY work-just-for-the-paycheck kind of jobs. I've known this my whole life. I've been working since I was 15-years-old, and I've always found 90% of the jobs I've done to be utterly spirit-crushing. For the longest time, I think I assumed that this was something I had to get over, something I had to get used to. It's part of being an adult, doing things you don't want to do. It's part of growing up, waking up early every morning and feeling profoundly sad about the day ahead.

But I know now, that it's not something I'll ever get used to. I'm not built like other people. I think my spirit is more sensitive to these things, because it was designed differently. And so I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I'll only be happy in life if I'm doing something that is creatively engaging. I need to tell stories, I need to write, I need to make things that are important and interesting and pure, that relate key aspects of the human experience, that somehow, for someone, make the world a better place. I need to believe 100% in the work I do. And the only thing I believe in 100% is storytelling.

I feel like every force in the world is wanting me to settle, wanting me to compromise and limit myself. Life is short. Don't take risks, you may never amount to anything. You may never be a success! But I want to risk everything for a chance of success on my own terms, for a chance to do only what I love. I will never be happy working in any sort of regular job, even if it affords me a posh flat full of Danish furniture and Icelandic electronics and a cellar full of fine French wine.

Maybe I should be thankful that most jobs make me absolutely miserable. It makes it easier not to settle for anything but that 1%. I just need to figure out, somehow, how to begin working towards that place that my soul, every minute of every day, wants to be.

Discipline! Confidence! Hope! Discipline.