When Goals Collide

The Field Supervisor (pictured below) has been staging an intervention, and it's gotten really ugly. Property damage has occurred. The Field Supervisor wants me to stop working. To move away from the keyboard and reconnect with things that are more grounded and meaningful to her: the garden, playing ball, social interaction. The intervention began slowly at first: blocking the monitor, stretching across the keyboard, verbal reprimands, but things quickly progressed into a destructive assault aimed at disabling equipment altogether. If I wouldn't willingly leave the office, I would be forced to. Note the unsightly tin foil on the far right of the photo. It is covering up wires to a speaker and a graphics tablet. This is to discourage the razor sharp teeth of the Field Supervisor who has already severed the cables of a zip drive, a USB and two firewire devices, all while staring directly at me with a ferocity of malfeasance I have never witnessed before. This is new behavior. The act of one very frustrated feline.

I admit I tend to be a compulsive worker at times. It takes a while to get the creative engine running, but once it's gathered a head of steam, I hammer all the way to the station. I'm loath to leave the chair. The Field Supervisor is correct of course. We better flourish when there is balance in all things. I do know this. I wrote about it in my book The Emotional House. A balanced life is a happier life. Yet there are times when concentrated effort is valuable too. The muse can be a tough taskmaster.

Once the weather turns warmer the call of the soil will take over, which will make the Field Supervisor much happier. My patio always becomes my outdoor office. I drag the whiteboard, bulletin board and the laptop outside. Laptops are such a godsend. Freedom. Any time you hit a roadblock you can do a little weeding and in no time find yourself right back on track again.

I was hoping to get a jump-start on the spring seedlings for the garden, but that goal has been delayed due to the compulsive working. Today I'm finally harvesting all the delicate salad greens that have been thriving under the grow lights to make room.

Next on the list is plotting out a plan for the vegetable beds. I've been inspired by so many other bloggers who have been posting their plans online. What a wonderful asset the online gardening/farming and sustainable/frugal living community is.