I’m back on the train.
I have joined the commuting classes – as if there were such a thing – and I’m quite glad about it.
Not especially about the ride, but it creates a small space in my day where no one can complain about me ‘playing’ with my phone. No one can be jealous or upset that they don’t have my full attention, no one can make me feel guilty for not unpacking/tidying/washing the floor/working/whatever. No one can try and convince me that writing is a waste of time or that no one wants to read what I want to write.
I am alone with my thoughts, despite the crush of other commuters. I can write, read or stare out of the window. I don’t have to defend myself against the practical world where ‘nothing’ is most definitely the wrong answer to “what are you doing?”
I can plan and plot and work things out. There’s no rush to finish in order to do something else. I can’t make the train arrive earlier by thinking faster.
I don’t object to being useful. I accept that floors need washing and that clothes don’t fold themselves. I get that. I just think it’s important to do non-urgent, creative, illogical things too. Things like reading, writing and painting. Things that make it worth having done all the other things.
I can’t paint on the train, but I can read, and I have my phone, so hopefully I can get the posts out of my head and onto screen paper :). FINALLY…
I’m still constricted by having to type on my phone, but the chances are a lot higher that I’ll get something written on the train using my phone than at home with the computer. I suppose ideally the house would be immaculate and I would have downtime there too. But that’s just not happening at the moment.
Ahhhh soooo good to see you again, old friend! I want a commute, now! On a train! With a bunch of strangers! When I am home, there is always something else that “needs” doing. So, I get it. There does need to be time for creative outlets and I hope you can continue to make use of your phone to write and do whatever creative things those durn SmartPhones may do. Wishing you all the best! (and big congrats on not being invisible anymore — passports are a GOOD thing!)
Thank you! (Also for making me think about writing while I couldn’t :))
Maybe you could find a park to ride to? I found it a lot easier to get away when I lived by myself (I can live with eating later for example, so if I took longer getting home because I stopped to sit in the woods that wasn’t a problem – back when I walked to work). Maybe you could use the time you get let off work early instead? You don’t seem to have a problem with making time to write anyway – you post every day!
I have a saying on my wall that I frequently refer to:
“Time you enjoyed wasting, is not wasted time” – T.S. Eliot
I totally agree 🙂
but I think DB thinks otherwise. He has to be productive. Always. Sitting still or waiting for something is torture.
(I find I can’t enjoy anything if the only aim is finishing as soon as possible in order to move on to the next thing, which in turn must be rushed through. I think I function slower than he does.)
I can relate to that. As I get older, I function (physically and mentally) slower than I used to, and find I need more time to think about what it is I actually want to do.
Ooooh-err…
If I’m this much slower than him now, I’ll have no hope of keeping up with him in a few years… 😮
Glad to know you can relate tho, I’d hate to be the only one 😉
Once upon a time I had a wall-full of sayings. Then I moved. One day I’ll put them up again…. “One day” *sigh*
What other sayings do you have up?
These are all on my pantry door in the kitchen:
cherish yesterday
dream about tomorrow
live today
Courage
No matter how tough the road ahead may be,
you will reach your goals by taking one day at a time,
and having the courage to do your best.
I also have this one above my stove:
live with intention
walk to the edge
listen hard
pracice wellness
play with abandon
laugh
choose with no regret
continue to learn
appreciate your friends
do what you love
live as if this is all there is
– mary anne radmacher
🙂 they’re good ones 🙂
Not sure how to practice wellness tho..
I think of it as “thinking good thoughts, not doing extremely bad things to my body, and not fretting about eating chocolate” 🙂
Keep commuting, keep writing, or else how can I enjoy reading your thoughts and what’s happening in your life, and your head.
You’re sure you want to do that?? 🙂
I feel very privileged to take up your reading time…
I think I have to write so my head doesn’t explode from all the unwritten words spinning around. Kind of like being pregnant with post-babies*, you can’t keep making new ones unless you let the other ones out.
* unripe posts that is, not babies from the postman