Ever have those days when you need to get stuff done and you’re uncomfortable in your normal work space. Perhaps your area is cluttered and you don’t have the time (or inclination!) to clean it at that very point in time as you have more pressing things to concern yourself with (or, at least, that’s what you tell yourself).
I love being outdoors. I love the fresh air, the birds, (not so much the flies), and the general zen-ness of nature. My reading of all things introversion tell me this is a common trait among introverts!
I recently got asked if I would become a regular contributor to my favourite Queensland Law Society publication called the Proctor. I’ve got some serious #nerdlove for that publication (I’m one of those weirdo’s that will get excited by the hardcopy delivery and ready myself with a fresh coffee to read it without delay!). So, you can only imagine my excitement when I heard that the Proctor was going online! Add to that my crazy excitement when some people in the QLS and Proctor world read my writing on this little blog and subsequently asked me to have a regular column for the new online Proctor. Now, how could I say no?!
My first assignment; write an intro-like post to the new m.a.d. about law column. Well, crap. That was a little harder than I anticipated. I started it a few times, but couldn’t get the zen-ness that I normally feel when I’m writing. I put it away for later.
I thought i’d try something that I hadn’t tried before really; something I had always wanted to try but thought it would be ‘weird’ (why I was worried about what others would think of it, is really beyond me!).
I had a house visit to go and do and then I was off to collect my eldest small human from school. I thought ahead and decided I would take my itty-bitty laptop and if I finished early, I would park up in a park with some lunch and give it a go.
I wrote my post in about 20 mins and it felt goooooooood. It was actually amazing and I seriously considered building an outdoor office!.
It’s amazing how a change of location, pace, surroundings can bring clarity you probably didn’t think you were really lacking. It didn’t feel like work (in fact, in all honesty, writing rarely does!). It was nice to not have the distractions of my usual workplace.
From now on, I will not only surround myself greenery indoors, but outdoors as well. Find my work zen-ness and let the creative juices flow. The beauty of technology today really does allow us to take our work wherever we want/need. I think the pandemic has really taught us some valuable lessons in that department. I also think the pandemic, and particularly lockdown, has really demonstrated how much we enjoy being out, engaging with people and society, but also how important it is to stop for a moment and smell the roses and appreciate the little things in life.
I live out in an semi-rural area (toward Beaudesert) so naturally, I’m surrounded by some pretty spectacular spots only a few minutes away and I just love it out here. In fact, the picture I’ve used for this post is the picture I took at the park on that very day!
My little adventure actually made me think of camping. More and more people go camping, nowadays. Ever thought why? Is it a desire to go back to basics? Is it a desire to just be surrounded by nature? It could very well be a bit of both. I find myself thinking about work when I’m out camping and when I was writing my piece the other day, I felt like I had the best of both worlds, bringing the serenity of camping to my work and vice versa. It was eye-opening and a little liberating!
I feel like a found a bit of work zen-ness when I worked from the park the other day and I am sure I will absolutely do so again.
Where do you find your work zen-ness? Do you mix it up a bit? Do you have a favourite place?
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
Lao Tsu
legally mad 