Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The corporate slave set free


Ladies (hello!) and gentlemen (if there are any of you out there)..... today is an auspicious day.

Today I write to you as a free woman. A corporate slave no longer - the bonds are broken, the shackles unchained, the straitjacket has been removed.For the first time in my adult life, I have no job to go to.

This is quite something, as I have been in paid employment since I was fifteen. I worked weekends through my senior school years, I didn't have a gap year after school or uni, I went straight into full-time work at the age of 21, and there I have remained, bonded to the corporate wheel, ever since. Even when I finished work in Dubai, I didn't have the courage to take time off afterwards - no, I went right out and secured a job (I did the interviews via phone in London, as I recall) to come back to, and it started the week after I got home.

So here I am - officially unemployed - and it's equal parts "gulp" and "sweeeeeeet"!

The first thing I'm going to do is address a major life error. I've never had four weeks of consecutive holiday in my life. That is about to change. This week, I am packing for India, and on Saturday I take off for three and a half weeks. Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer ... I am going to drench myself in holiday and emerge from it nearly a month later, dripping with life.

I've planned this break as a deliberate liminal experience. In my life, liminal experiences - the time that marks the period in between the end of something old and the start of something new - are very important. I use them as an opportunity to think, reassess, consider life from a different perspective. They clear out the cobwebs in my brain, throw open the shutters and let in the light so I can see how the dust has settled on the furnishings. They show me where I need to set to work cleaning and polishing.

I think India is the perfect place for that. I love its filth and chaos, the colours, the vibrancy, and the heat - the heat! - is going to be wonderful.

In India I intend to write many lists. List of things to keep and things to throw out - both figuratively and literally. Lists of things to do when I get home (perfect the Victorian sponge cake, attempt to impose some kind of order on my wild back garden). Lists of things that make me happy (sunny days, and remembering old friends), and lists of things I want in my life. Lists of things I don't, too - those are just as important.

But before then I have one very important question to consider: three and a half weeks in India, what will I wear?

I'd better make a list.

10 comments:

Liesl said...

How exciting! I hope you have a wonderful time in India - it should be an amazing trip.

Jennie said...

Surely you only need to break out your NT dress shorts again? ;-)

Screamstress said...

Ha ha Fabulous! I've always wanted to go to India, the beautiful fabrics, teensy bit scary though. You are taking me with you, aren't you? (via blogland, naturally) Oooh I'm excited!

Jill said...

Good for you! I hope India and your holiday is everything you dreamed of and more!

Anonymous said...

How wonderfully exciting ! India is such an amazing place - good luck on your new life journey. Things happen for a reason, and who knows, maybe it's time to leave the shackles of the corporate world behind you forever and really pursue your other passions.

Lou said...

Wow, all sounds very exciting. Go girl!

Finki said...

You sound sooo relaxed and happy and excited for whatever the future may bring. Hooray ( :
Let the journey begin.

Isabella Golightly said...

I must admit I thought 'liminal' was a weird kind of sexual practise but obviously I was completely wrong! I will admit to more than a twinge of corporate-freedom envy, and am full of hope that you have an absolutely phenomenal time, with lots of pictures of fabric in all its incarnations. Yay!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations - that's wonderful!

I quit my office job at the end of last year and have been freelancing since, with a five-week break to travel around Ecuador and Chile. I never realised I could be so happy. Broke, yes, but so much happier.

Have wonderful, inspiring, restorative travels. India sounds like the perfect place.

Lynwood Drapery said...

Hi great readinng your blog