Can you believe I lived in my apartment for eight months without realising I had a roof terrace??? And what a roof terrace! The views are some of the best in Sydney. Unbelievable. I've been enjoying it with friends since. So January's done already. The weather has been great, the festival a real boost to the social life and I'm back swimming again. All good? Well... no. Something has definitely been missing. Frankly, I haven't had enough work to do...
My mood is often determined by how happy I am at work. And it might sound strange, but it's taken me years to realise that.
Beautiful water and sands down at Jervis Bay.I always felt that working for the Civil Service was a bit of a compromise. The work wasn't appreciated and it wasn't especially rewarding, and the working environment was never exciting, but the payoff - I thought - was a less stressful, less demanding working life. It wasn't until I left that I realised I'm happiest when work is demanding. An undemanding job isn't a payoff, it's a lead weight. I can only feel happy when I'm working hard and adding some value.
It's that Scottish Protestant guilt that I just can't shake off. Hahaha!
Left - James enjoyed his lunch on the rooftop!
So it's with some relief that I find my workload ramping up in the last week. And I'm excited about working for Opportunity International in 2009. I'm excited because this could be the most challenging year for this organisation yet. None of us would wish for the difficulties that the credit crunch have imposed on us. We would all prefer to have more donations, more money to pay for the projects we have in the field, and more money to pay for our team in Australia, which we've unfortunately had to pare down in the last month or so.
But given the circumstances we find ourselves in, we're determined as a team to do the best we can. I've said this before, but I've never felt as encouraged by my colleagues and by the atmosphere at work as I do at Opportunity.
Since I've written this, I've had a great week. I've done some walking in the beautiful bush around Sydney. My shoulder feels almost fully recovered so I've entered the harbour swim competition on 1st March. I've caught up with friends and I have a weekend of beach, barbeque and the Australian Open with a few tinnies to look forward to.
It really is all good!
With Australia Day passing, I feel the need to comment on the rivalry between Australia and the UK, and back one of these very different horses. Hope to put this into a new update real soon...
Wow!!!!
