back to the office...

A couple of thoughts about work/life balance…

For most of my adult life, I have been a social worker. This has been, at times, variously rewarding beyond belief, frustrating, heartbreaking, inspiring, disillusioning, mundane… and the adjectives could go on and on. Social work is a varied field, and my jobs have been equally diverse – from event management for youth music events, to one on one AoD counseling, and diverse also in their level of satisfaction. My last position for a certain national mental health organization should have been one of the most rewarding but was instead an example of the truth that management incapability and internal politics can hamstring an organization with even the best intentions.

And so it was time for a change.

For the last 9 months or so I have been working in 2 jobs – one part time social work “back to grassroots” job assisting people living with HIV with housing and accommodation issues (in which I rediscovered the satisfaction of working one to one with another human being in order to try and effect a positive change in their situation), and one which has been totally different.

I’ve never really considered myself “handy”. If there was a competition about who could be the most blokey, I’d lose. I love cooking. The kitchen is MINE. I love reading and art and acting and discussing philosophy and can’t abide football. And yet, for the last 8 months I have been wearing a tool-belt, swinging a hammer, a rake and a shovel (not all at once), building shit, planting shit, stepping in shit, and seeing dead spaces come to life and beauty.

I am a landscaper.

Well, ok, I’m not – although I am learning and there are aspects of the job that I’ve grown to feel very comfortable with – but really it’s my mate that I work with who’s the design genius).

Doing this has kept me fit, suntanned in the summer and clad in flannos in the winter. And I’ve loved being a tradie.

I now want an old Ford F-100.

But I still can’t stand footy.

However, there are new moves on the horizon. Myself and my love want to be near the ocean. I have missed the water hugely, and can’t wait to start a salt water life with the woman of my dreams. But rents are higher, and there is the possibility of new humans on the horizon, so chances are that the most economically sensible plan is to return to being a professional in my area of training.

And it leaves me asking myself what are the things I will and won’t miss about working outdoors, what are the things I need to do to keep the balance of physical and mental work that I’ve had these last months?

Well, I will not miss trimming ivy off walls in the rain on close to freezing winter mornings. But I’ll miss the sense of creativity and satisfaction of making something look like a place that people would want to sit to inspire their souls. And I’ll miss the feeling of physical exhaustion but knowing that you have been making your body stronger (but not this niggling shoulder injury I’ve picked up that’s stopped me surfing the last two months).

So in order to maintain these things, I will (after resting the shoulder until it actually heals properly) get back to the gym, surf more and run with the dog. These are all things I love, and being near the beach will provide more opportunity. I will ensure I don’t leave my camera sitting on a shelf, that I spend time with a guitar and the incredibly talented love of my life and her voice, that we take the time enjoy the water and the community of a smaller town.

That is, until the situation changes again, as I hope it will with the advent of suggested new humans, and sleep deprivation makes the thought of running intolerable. But then a whole new focus and journey, rewards and challenges, will start.

But for now, I get ahead of myself. What I’m looking forward to is sea air, exercise, a new life with my favourite person, and hopefully a social work job that provides as many of the rewarding aspects of the profession as I can hope for. I might even build a garden now that I'm all handy and know how.

And a few of those incredible winter dawn sessions down at winkipop – maybe even a couple of the rarest of the rare – being alone in the water as the sun creeps over the horizon and glassy lines of swell emerge from the fog.

Fuck, I love the reefs at Jan Juc.

perfect day

Ok, so I said the second blog would be about not knowing what to blog, but I have avoided that one too. You see, today was one of those days when you just stop and think about life, "How did it all go so right?" We spent the weekend up at Flowerdale with my cousin and her new husband, and then down the coast visiting a friend who moved to Jan Juc recently, and just getting the kids and the beautiful Maybe Melody accustomed and at home with the town.

My love is as excited about moving (back for me) to the water as I am, and we are now thinking of pushing our time frames forward a bit (as it's pretty difficult to find houses to rent when everyone's renting them over summer).

The thing that blows me away is that I, finally at the age of 33, have found the person with whom to share a relationship that is everything I have always dreamed one could be, with whom to share dreams and journeys. This weekend has been pretty nearly as close to perfect as I can remember, and ended with the boys and the puppy running up and down the beach trying not to get their feet wet, and the two of us standing on the sand in the moonlight both agreeing that the life we've found, the plans we're moving towards and the journey ahead is exactly what we want. Before her, I was skeptical that this could exist, but am happy to be proven wrong.

Don't worry - not all of my posts will be so schmaltzy I promise. I will no doubt talk about how fucked up elements of society are in good time, and much more about more conceptual topics, but now, I'm just really fucking happy. And given our planned journey to the ocean, there will soon be much more of the "Olas" to discuss and photograph in this little blog.

So for now, I just have to pull out a line from Lou Reed in one of his lighter moments, and say Maybe Melody, It's just a perfect day. I'm glad I spent it with you.

Ok, this is my first blog, as you will no doubt have ascertained by the fact that there are none preceding. And it being such, I am aware of the pressure to be witty and insightful.

I choose to acknowledge that pressure and then to dismiss it, and just be me.

Subject for a first blog? I don’t know. I’ve had a look at a few first blogs and there seems to be a bit of a tendency towards “not sure what to blog about but here goes”, and there is a strong pull in myself to follow suit.

So to avoid the inevitable I might just post a quick picture – one that I like with a technique I’ve been playing with recently using an old Kodak duaflex box camera and a Pringles tin. It’s a fun technique, and I love the quality of the shots it gives you. It’s been way too long since I exhibited anything, but there’s a group exhibition that is held at the Brunswick Street Gallery each year. Last year that exhibition inspired me to get more creative again, so perhaps this year it’s time to start putting some stuff on some walls again.

The image, by the way, is the beautiful Maybe Melody, who I have to thank for being my inspiration and muse, not just in art, but in life.

God, she’s right. I am a romantic sap!! Ah well, at least I avoided a blog about having nothing to blog about.

That will be reserved for blog number two.