Week 10, Day 2 — Cinderella Complex

It's only Tuesday night and I've somehow managed to complete all of this week's tasks somewhat prematurely.  I'm sitting tonight twiddling my thumbs a bit; for the first time in ages, I'm totally up-to-date with things (other than a wee writing assignment that's due in a few days, but that's under control and I'm not going to panic about it).  The dishes are done, the housework's done, I've read all the blogs and news feeds I'm subscribed to.  Even my inboxes are tidy—I only have 8 emails left to chase up (to put that in perspective, just 2 months ago they were in chaos with over 4,200 messages to sift through).

I'm so used to having to cram the things I need to achieve around long working hours that inevitably things get put off then rushed last minute.  Now that my working hours are shorter and more leisurely, I find I've managed to get everything else done quickly.  It's so unlike me that I feel really agitated, like I should be doing something, anything, just to feel productive.  It's like the Cinderella Complex Julia describes in the book; work, work and more work, with only fleeting moments of dreaming about going to the ball.

I better get used to this because this is how things are going to be from now on.  I need to fight the urge to be super-productive and try to relax.  I'm going to go make a pot of tea and settle down to write just 750 more words to meet my target for the day, and once they're out of the way I'm going to read Act One of Taming the Shrew in prep for a Shakespeare short course I signed up for.

After that—well, I might actually go to bed early for once.

Oh my.  I think I'm changing.

K