In the aftermath of our latest trip to Italy, I resolved to pay more attention to the moment - the now - and as much as possible let the next take care of itself. Another word for this, I realize, is mindfulness.
I had a good exercise of mindfulness on the plane trip home as I put into practice a bit of advice on how to make a long trip more bearable. That is, do one thing at a time. Eat without reading, watch a movie without drinking and so on. I've tried to continue that now that I'm home, and it's hard! I'm so in the habit of doing two or three things at once that it's hard to really focus on just one thing.
But as I do, I am having more and more clear thoughts. I'm going to use this defunct blog to keep track of those thoughts, because I am acutely aware that I need to make changes in my life, and I am also acutely aware that because of anxiety, Asperger's and abuse I have no practice in thinking constructively about what I want, what I can do, and how to get what I want. There's never been any point to trying before.
So here goes.
MY FIVE YEAR PLAN
Premises
1. In five years, I will be 63. That is not too old to start doing something new and completely different. In five years, I want to be doing something I am passionately interested in.2. I am passionately interested in Roman architecture, sewing and clothing design, and cooking. I like sharing my passions and teaching. I need to find a way to turn those passions into a job.
But I have no authority in any of those topics; I have no training, no accreditation.
I need to get accreditation in something, preferably related to one or more of my passions. But I am desperately out of practice in academic thought.
I need to practice by reading something challenging, so I'm going to read The World of Pompeii, edited by John J Dobbins and Pedar W. Foss. If/when I get through that, I will decide on a university or college course to take.
3. In the meantime, I also need to update and maintain my LinkedIn page, in case I need to find a new tech writing job.
4. In ten years, I want to be living in Italy at least part time. I need to figure out what I need to do to make that happen.
That's enough for now, I need to read a chapter of Pompeii before I get too tired.
