Sneaky sneaky sneak

My return to the workforce has been swift and brutal, at least in its impact on my once-peaceful life. I hope to update you soon, should I manage to get some free minutes at home. Too much to do! Too much.
All is well, though. Mostly. For now.
Isn't that always the way?

I'm standing at the crossroads and a figure is a'coming

My head is spinning. How did I ever maintain this pace of life? Or, more to the point, how did I ever sustain this lack of peace?

I am about to finish my first week of web-work, and I am in a mild state of shock. I have so much buzzing through my mind, so much to contemplate and dissect, and yet no time to actually ponder it properly, let alone muse about it on my wee blog. It's disheartening, at the least, to be so abruptly shown my life as I used to lead it.
Thankfully we have next week off, as we'd already booked family holidays and the paper was kind enough to oblige (knowing, perhaps, that I would have turned down the contract if they didn't).

It's all wrong. Everything about this is wrong. The past year was filled with uncertainty, frustration, freedom and -- in the end -- boredom, and somehow during that time I made my way from a frantic pursuit of achievement (any achievement), to a broad, deep and contemplative peace. I could see my world at depth, with texture, and allowed time to let its quiet beauties be heard.

This greedy consumption of mental energy, this flurry of tentacled demands winding its way around my life, is unhealthy.
What had I given up, when I used to live like this without knowing anything different? What have we all given up?

 After rainfall: A plant at the bottom of my front steps, 
so simple and lovely, yet so often overlooked

And so it is

Almost 12 months to the day of being told to leave the country, I've finally gained my Canadian residency.

The year of crazy housewifery is over. I'm already back at the national newspaper (albeit temporarily). I don't know if I'm ready to let go of this yet. 

I have to get to work right now, but am doing a lot of internal exploration on the meaning of work, the joys of escape, and the reality of, well, reality.

Expect a full recount and ensuring ruminations soon.