Every day in May.
Lately, I've really been struggling with LIFE in Lagos (I think life here calls for a few uppercase letters, don't you?). Or maybe I should say I've been struggling with LIFE in general. Mostly, I've been feeling pretty useless. My volunteer project came to an end in March or so and the next project doesn't start up really until next September.
What's a girl to do with all this free time? Exercise? Yes, I've done that. Hard to turn that into a reason for living though. Take care of my children? Of course! But that's not exactly a nine-to-five job anymore. My youngest turns six this month, and all three are in school all day. Learn to play guitar? Finally achieve conversational Spanish? Puh-lease. That requires self-discipline... next!
Travel? Yes. That is lovely. In fact, I just returned last week from a trip to London to see friends. I felt very productive as I tramped all over London and Oxfordshire. But you get home, you unpack, you post the pics to Facebook and then... I'm back to being useless.
How about writing? I used to really like that. I was good at that. But let me tell you what I've learned about myself: I am no fiction writer. I can dish and be snarky and flippant to no end about real life, but ask me to develop a character that comes alive or a plot line that holds your interest, and I draw a blank. Not my forte. That's ok. I read a nice piece of advice the other day: "Know your personal limits... what your own strengths and weaknesses are. Once you know them you can use them to your advantage." What I take from that is, don't despise yourself for the things you can't do; in fact, stop wasting time trying to do them. Instead, do what you are good at, and be really good at it! Or at least be really happy doing it.
As I am not a fiction writer, I will return to the genre and medium that suits me best: blogging. I've lived in Nigeria for almost two years now (two-year anniversary is in June!), and while the place can still shock and depress and delight the hell out of me, it's not what I want to write about right now. That is why I've decided to take up the challenge started by a blogger out of Austin and brought to my attention by a fellow Lagos blogger.
The challenge is to write a post every day on a given set of topics. Given that it is May 6, I have a bit of catching up to do. Or I may just cherry-pick the topics; i.e., skip the overly thought-provoking ones. (This ain't high school, people!).
So ends this post. Next up? Day one of challenge: "The story of your life in 250 words or less." Don't worry, peeps, I'll keep it short.
What's a girl to do with all this free time? Exercise? Yes, I've done that. Hard to turn that into a reason for living though. Take care of my children? Of course! But that's not exactly a nine-to-five job anymore. My youngest turns six this month, and all three are in school all day. Learn to play guitar? Finally achieve conversational Spanish? Puh-lease. That requires self-discipline... next!
Travel? Yes. That is lovely. In fact, I just returned last week from a trip to London to see friends. I felt very productive as I tramped all over London and Oxfordshire. But you get home, you unpack, you post the pics to Facebook and then... I'm back to being useless.
How about writing? I used to really like that. I was good at that. But let me tell you what I've learned about myself: I am no fiction writer. I can dish and be snarky and flippant to no end about real life, but ask me to develop a character that comes alive or a plot line that holds your interest, and I draw a blank. Not my forte. That's ok. I read a nice piece of advice the other day: "Know your personal limits... what your own strengths and weaknesses are. Once you know them you can use them to your advantage." What I take from that is, don't despise yourself for the things you can't do; in fact, stop wasting time trying to do them. Instead, do what you are good at, and be really good at it! Or at least be really happy doing it.
As I am not a fiction writer, I will return to the genre and medium that suits me best: blogging. I've lived in Nigeria for almost two years now (two-year anniversary is in June!), and while the place can still shock and depress and delight the hell out of me, it's not what I want to write about right now. That is why I've decided to take up the challenge started by a blogger out of Austin and brought to my attention by a fellow Lagos blogger.
The challenge is to write a post every day on a given set of topics. Given that it is May 6, I have a bit of catching up to do. Or I may just cherry-pick the topics; i.e., skip the overly thought-provoking ones. (This ain't high school, people!).
So ends this post. Next up? Day one of challenge: "The story of your life in 250 words or less." Don't worry, peeps, I'll keep it short.
Comments
Post a Comment