As some of you know, I have just started teaching on a new platform «Preply». It is much like the other platforms where a commission is taken and you get your fee at the end. The revelation for me though is that I am in charge of my own hours, pricing and even the students I want to take on. This has meant I am now on nearly a full-time schedule with the best wage I have ever been on in France.
It is a great relief after many years on SMIC (minimum wage), however it has brought a turnaround in me regarding writing as a hobby. I am sure many of you have reached these turning points and have had to make a choice. One thing sticks in my mind over all these years and that is what is the point of wasting time and energy on things you don’t enjoy if you have a chance to create something you could be proud of.
My turning point has come at this point, now.
Teaching is a vocation, and you have to be lucky to earn a lot of money from it, but it is something I enjoy and doing it online has been eye opening. Writing however is the creative hobby that is part of my life, since I was a little girl at school. I can’t give it up and so I balance the hours that I earn money with the hours I spend on my passion. I am not going to earn millions, but very few of us really believe that is achievable. However, it is important to make time for the things that make me happy and that I can lose myself in. Apparently ‘mindfulness’ is all the rage now, even though people have been doing it for decades. Creative writing can help bring about this state as can other activities such as painting or sculpting. It can even be as simple as sitting in a favourite place and enjoying the scenery.
It is the tool I have to help calm my mind when I have a stressful day, or to bring my thoughts together on the paper to solve a situation. It is the comfort blanket I go to when I need to gain perspective on a difficult situation. Sometimes the answers never come, but it soothes those worries away. Once in a while I have those rare moments of complete clarity, and then the whole world around me shifts. It is then that I know I need to pursue this sometimes mad and frustrating pastime. It is for those rainbows.
MidLife Crisis In France
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