Wednesday, November 16, 2005

notes on surviving creatively a job for money

1. Use the commute for thinking time.
2. Stay in the present don't put everything onto 'when this job is over'. Keep seeing friends. Take pleasure in what you can even if its reduced to shocking pink post-it notes.
3. Do something creative everyday even if tiny. Phone someones or email someone about your project. Knit at lunchtime. Do post-it sized drawings.
4. If you can't get out at lunchtime - take a stack of postcards with you to the canteen and catch up on correspondence with friends.
5. Journal or do 'morning pages' its an exercise in saying 'Here I am' 'this is who I am' an affirmation of self when most work does the opposite.
6. Try and stand outside during your breaks to get natural light on your face even if for a few minutes to ward of SAD.
7. A nice pen always cheers me up.
8. Eat as well as you can. Double your cooking amounts and take in left overs. Almost always more nutrious than bought in a canteen and cheaper.
9. Invest in a treat for yourself. During one henious job in the docks (in the payments dept!) I would leap onto the first bus every Monday night and go to a cinema which had a half price ticket deal and see two films one after the other. It was indulgent. Indulge. Think of what that would be for you. A double cream hot chocolate... a bubble bath?
10. A warm cozy scarf and pair of gloves for waiting at bus stops.

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