When I kicked off this substack, my aim was to allow my writing to take any direction I felt like, not just work-related, but perhaps a narrative of life and its associated bits and bobs. You can see how much effort went into coming up with a title!
Looking back, I notice that Post About Life and Work, has become Post About Work. Work is an area I feel safe in the knowledge that I have more than a veneer level of understanding and perhaps some relevant, sharable insight. Life, on the other hand, appears to be an elusive topic, proving repeatably difficult to crystalise insight with enough fidelity to feel comfortable that it will have some value in sharing with you.
Robert Frost, a poet, in 1954, interviewed for a magazine, said; “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.”
This quote pretty much lines up my own experience. It sounds like a dull and somewhat disinterested view of life, sort of like shrugging your shoulders at existence and having another biscuit whilst you stare out of the window accompanied by the pitter-patter of rain as it attempts to find a way to ground level.
As with any saying, you can layer on top of it your own meaning or imply something deeper and more thoughtful, which is probably why quotes seem so relevant, they give you space to add your own secret sauce.
By way of example, I came across the writer Annie Dillard; she’s got a beautiful grasp of the written word, but more important (at least to this post!) is that she writes about nature in all its sizes, from a small bug to imposing mountains.
Nature just happens. It doesn’t think or wring its hands, wondering if flowering at this exact moment is going to be “bang on trend” with all other flowers; neither does a bee consider the impact it might have on the environment by sucking up just a little bit more nectar than usual because it’s feeling like comfort eating.
There’s a beauty to all these happenings which go on. It’s less about a specific moment in time and more about the flow of things.
Looking around, as one seldom does when we’re glued to the screen, keyboard, office chair or coffee shop round table, you can see the changes all around us, how the wind ruffles the leaves of a tree, plucking one-off, or a dog taking a moment to sniff the ground.
It goes without saying that “it goes on” is practically nature. We should embrace the core principle that change is ever present and delivers its chances to enjoy, grow, and, on the other side of the coin, cry, grumble and so on.
We strive for predictability in our lives; it gives us comfort and solace, but this only has value as a companion to change. We need to be challenged to grow and develop. This is life; it goes on consistently and keeps us, with luck, planted in the moment.
Thank you, friends, for joining me on this someone oblique outing, an experiment in posts about life as well as work. It’s nice to have you along for the ride, as always, and I hope you’ll rock up to my next post, which I’ve already half-written in my head about a work-related topic. 😊