It’s funny how things work out. This time last year I was easing into unstructured days filled with creativity after walking away from the relentless, frantic pace of being a full-time magazine editor. (You can read about that here and here.) I had realised it was time to balance the scales in the direction of relaxation, family time and my creative pursuits.
Compare that with now, when my life is anything but balanced – once again, I’m driven by deadlines and competing demands and I’m doing a lot of priority juggling. You’re more likely to find me transcribing an interview or pulling together a blog post after dinner than catching up on the Netflix binge I’ve been promising myself.
This picture is definitely not an accurate depiction of how balanced my life is right now. Photo: @theformfitness
Not that I’m complaining – I’m delighted. I’m working with a range of wonderful clients who are a pleasure to work with. One of those is SA Power Networks – I’m consulting with them three days a week until the end of this year, focusing on their internal communications.
Most people know me for my work in the media, but long before that I worked in corporate communications as a writer and editor. In fact, I worked as a consultant with SA Power Networks (or as it was known then, ETSA) for 11 years, putting together their internal communications. I had to smile when I saw the staff newsletter that I used to produce – for about 120 issues – still going strong. It’s great to be working in there again and seeing how much has changed since I was last there (nearly 10 years ago!) and also to spot some familiar, friendly faces.
In among this I have been working on several other exciting projects for clients – everything from blog posts and thought leadership pieces to press releases, award submissions and articles for client magazines.
I’m very happy to have the scales tipping back to busy-ness again, and somehow among that, my creativity still bubbles to the surface and demands to be expressed. And if all fails, there’s always coffee 😉
A more accurate depiction of how balanced my life is right now.