Arbutus Trees. They're one of the reasons Salt Spring Island is so beautiful. They lean dramatically, their branches sometimes hanging out over the ocean from tiny cracks, dramatically twisting like dancers performing a modern dance, each dancer's body unique in its positioning.They keep their leaves all year round and their reddish, mahogany bark sheds by peeling away from the trunk, dropping off in curled slivers and giving a peek to the various shades of new green bark underneath.
That's a lot like moving to a new place. At first, if you like where you are, you're ecstatic to be there. You're excited. Everything is novel and your motivation to participate in ALL of it, is at an all time high. And, then it's done. You look at what you've been doing and you begin to re-assess knowing that you better get a lot smarter in your approach if you're planning on enjoying your life on this island or anywhere so that your sole focus is not on money.
Talking to a friend last night who has been here a year longer than me, it's clear that this process is something that everyone goes through. Have a plan for the future. Don't spend time on things that utilize your talent and pay you next to nothing. If you're going to spend that type of energy, why not go after scenarios that pay well.
I've lost my focus these past 6 months all my energy being scattered between the part-time job, the Market and photography, writing for next to no money for The Driftwood and Aqua. It was fun but it's now time to get serious.
It's now time to get back to the reason I came here, to try and develop a way to live off my writing by tapping into contract work (mainly off island) so that I can eventually remove myself from being where I am four days per week as soon as that's feasible.
My friend and I have both noticed that a significant portion of Salt Spring is populated with underachievers who are okay with that. People who are okay with just getting by and are always looking for ways to just get by because they are conspiracy theorists, anti-government/establishment in a seriously unhealthy way based solely on their emotional biases and perhaps bitterness related to their personal failings.
I spend 18.75 hours a week interacting with a huge number of them. People who think computers are evil. People who are clinging to the past refusing to take personal responsibility for learning and moving forward. In short, victims who refuse to change.
Use this time, says my friend very wisely, as motivation to focusing on moving toward the reason you came here in the first place and stop underselling your own talent, in the same way you keep telling me to stop undervaluing mine.