I am removing my grip from the steering wheel, giving my mind a break, and letting go like that image of a girl flying down a hill with no hands on the bars or feet on the petals. Flying free. I choose to surrender to that creative voice that whispers to me every morning, every minute. That voice that reminds me that I have something to do. Something to say. I choose to let my mind spit words and my pen to sketch them between the lines of the page. I choose to move those words around like puzzle pieces creating sentences that say something. Sentences that make you feel something. I choose to pick up the paintbrush and run colors across the canvas (red, yellow, orange, blue, purple). Push them into each other to create nothing that says something. I choose to just be me. Without a routine. Me. Without structure. Me. Without self-imposed restrictions. I choose to surrender to everything creative in me.

Hello workers. Need some inspiration? I know I do. Especially after sitting for “7.5 hours” (minus the 5 minute bathroom break) clicking the mouse. During my “find your purpose” journey, I learned that God has something to say about our purpose, paths, and plans. So from time to time, I will post a scripture as a reminder that what we do matters. Today’s verse hits home for me. I admit that I let the laziness in my nature dominate and dictate what I accomplish. Sometimes I take the sluggish attitude to the extreme. This is a daily fight for me, but I am determined to act instead of wish. Word for today: Proverbs 15:19.

“The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway”.

I strive to be on that highway!

In other news…

Today’s news search led me to these two interesting articles. Don’t we all wish management would release the reigns and trust us?

This essay from the New York Times spoke to my inner novelist. It’s true, modern writers tend to make work an afterthought for characters. That says a lot about how we see work today. Maybe it is time to put work back into the novel.

Share your thoughts.

WORK. The four letter word most of us spit from our mouths as we smack the alarm clock every Monday morning. We grumble about it behind the muted walls of our cubicles. We crowd bars for happy hour, sipping martinis and limed coronas to decompress from it. It is the bane of our existence. It is the place where we experience our first case of burnout. We do it just to pay that student loan or keep up with the bill from that maxed out credit card. We do it just to get by.

Cue the Matrix analogy:

We are millions of Neoes but we chose the blue pill.

A report released by The Conference Board Research Group at the beginning of 2010 said that despite the volatile job climate, Americans are increasingly unhappy at work.

Even with the now fleeting luxury of a steady check, health benefits, and paid time off, we are still miserable with what we do for a living. Why?

Why do people settle for the ordinary? I wrote this question on a pink post it note one day while watching my coworkers working. Muted faces staring at the computer screen like it held them in a trance. I mean us. I am/was one of them. I wanted to understand why we chose to take the blue pill. Why was this choice good enough? I didn’t come to any solid conclusions that day, but that initial question led me to question this thing called work and my role in the relationship. If I believed nothing else, I knew that there had to be something better for me.

In my eight years on this journey, I have discovered a lot about myself and this word work. Life in Staccato was born out of that journey.

Life in Staccato is a bi-weekly blog that profiles artists, business men/women, and community activists who have chosen to disconnect themselves from careers void of passion. They have taken a leap and have either just begun this journey, are half way there, or have reached their career goals.

If you, like me, are trying to find your way, believe that you are on this earth on purpose, and want to experience fulfillment in your work, stay tuned.

Leave a comment. Share your story.

s.l.malson

Up next…
I Was Built For This – Why working matters