Making a Plan to Have a Personal Life

via Pinterest and Lisa Brochu

A personal life has not organically appeared for me in London.

I’m in the Isle of Man right now catching up with family and taking a breather for a couple of days. While I may not be enjoying the London working hours, I am definitely enjoying the annual leave over here. A decadent 20 days plus bank holidays. And I thought we Canadians had it so good with 15 days compared to our American friends with 5-10. This is the life!

If you can get a life to enjoy on those 20+ days off.

Hanging with my sister has been a great opportunity to make a plan for the next 6 months for how to best use my time, money and energy to ensure I enjoy London. This doesn’t mean I’m going to spend  all of my free time touring London Tower, watching the changing of the guard and riding every double decker bus I can. Double decker buses give me motion sickness.

I need to find some balance. What I’ve noticed in my first month here is that all work and no creativity makes me dull, listless and angry. It isn’t sustainable. Crossfit each morning has been helping me stay balanced physically but it isn’t enough.

I need to spend more time for being creative, socializing and learning.

I need a plan to make it happen.

Morning of Writing – Get Creative

I try to fit a crossfit workout in before the office. I get sucked into the late hours on a demanding project and can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to leave work for the 5:30, 6:30 or 7:30pm classes. And in reality; I don’t like working out in the evening. It screws with my sleep when I’m getting home at 8pm from the 6:30pm class and having dinner at 8:30 or later.

This jam packed schedule has left me feeling uncreative. I rarely want to do any writing in the evenings after 10+hours in front of a screen at work. During the weekends I feel panicked that I need to get some writing done ASAP. I miss the leisurely writing during the week.

Solution: One morning of writing a week on a day off from crossfit. Just an hour of writing, with my wifi turned off and my mind fresh from a solid 8 hours of sleep.

Get Out There – Social Life

I’m not social by nature. Luckily in Vancouver I had great friends that were always organizing to meet up. Socializing just happened. No effort required. It was a great balance to my hermit like tendencies.

I’ve had too much alone time here. I had a great weekend the other week when I had dinner with a friend Friday night and then went for brunch with crossfit people the next day. Two social outings.

I need to get out and meet people. Not daily, but at least a couple of times a week.

Solution: This is a city full of expats. I’ve found even the Londoners I work with quite friendly. I need to suggest meeting on the weekends and make sure I take people up on their offers to meet up for dinner or to go to a farmer’s market.

Learn Something New

While I’m learning in the office everyday, it isn’t enough. I need something more. Something creative. Something that scares me a bit and takes me outside my comfort zone like standup comedy did.

I’m mulling over what skill I’d like to try next. Should I take a writing course? Acting? Hip hop? What is the quintessential single 30 something female class? Pottery?

I’m not sure what I’ll do but I know I need to find something that challenges me to be more in the moment and creative. I need to ‘fill the well’ as Rachel says.

Solution: TBC. London seems to have some amazing options so I’m sure I’ll find something. In the mean time I need to get back to reading more and having something to discuss other than work and the fact that I’m struggling to cook my Paleo meals with the hours I’m keeping.

I need a plan of action to make sure I don’t lift my head up from my desk in August and realize I haven’t been to the Tate Modern yet. To that end I’m making a London list of things to do when I’m here. If you’ve got any favourites please post them to the comments.