Weekly Meander #2: Yeah, I'm getting older, but it's all relative
And hey - I can still make new friends!
Each week I'm documenting the stuff I've got up to in my working life, whatever that looks like. This is mainly for my own benefit – I seem to get to the end of most weeks feeling like I've barely achieved anything so it'll be nice to start to build up a record of what I have done in any given 7 days. But hopefully some of it will be fun and interesting for others to read too. Thoughts, comments etc always happily received.
This has been a bit of a 'goddamn, I really am middle aged now' kind of a week (I guess there's gonna be quite a few of those going forwards eh).
Within three days at the start of the week, I had the double whammy of an optician's appointment and a doctor's appointment, which confirmed, respectively, that I was now in need of 1) varifocals and 2) HRT.
Neither of these revelations was exactly a bolt from the blue, but still, the confirmation on both fronts was a reality check… and made me give a slightly tired sigh!
I definitely had a bit more vim and vigour this week than last – not falling down the stairs was a big help there (!)
But I still found myself repeatedly just getting into the swing of things and then having to stop what I was doing to go and collect one or other child from school or nursery. There isn’t much to be done about that – it's just the stage of life we're in and I don't want to wish it away - but it is certainly an ongoing frustration in terms of my productivity.
I'm also still flailing around trying to figure out the optimal balance of ingredients in my current work casserole (not sure where that metaphor came from but let's go with it) - these being:
a) monetising my existing creative work – ie continuing to spend time booking more screenings of my feature doc, currently my only source of actual income, but something I've got diminishing energy & enthusiasm for
b) generating new creative work, both documentary film stuff and writing here on Substack
c) concrete steps to start my new life stories business venture, &
d) networking, or as I prefer to think of it in less business book speak, just getting to know new interesting people as sources of inspiration and encouragement and maybe even down the line, professional friendship and collaboration
I've got no real recipe I'm following (to continue my slightly tortured casserole metaphor) and I think maybe that's something I need to try and be more strategic about. If any of you wonderful multi-passionate creators out there have any tips on allotting my available time most effectively (I'm sure there must be some great Substack posts I ought to read on this), I’d be delighted to hear them.
In the meantime, here's what I managed to put a tick against from my slightly chaotic To Do list…
WORK WINS THIS WEEK
1. Zoom call with
When trying to find people to follow and read on Substack, I've not really found the search function particularly helpful (
whom I was very happy to subscribe to this week – and whom I definitely did not find by searching - elucidates this very well here).However, it did hit the jackpot for me when I rather optimistically searched for 'nuclear power history', the subject of my feature doc. Imagine my surprise & delight at discovering someone on the other side of the world from me, in Australia, who'd similarly fallen down the rabbit hole of atomic history, but was shaping his findings into a book rather than a film.
I wasted no time in connecting with Andres and we soon agreed to fix up a time to talk over Zoom, which happened this week. It was a great conversation as we shared our respective journeys. I'm excited to keep in touch and follow the progress of his book, all the while enjoying the fascinating snippets he's sharing from his research along the way.
2. Wrote about Ralph Nader to mark his 90th birthday this week
I probably spent far longer on this than I should have but it was fun for me to research it and every post is a chance to practice and hone my writing skills so I'm not going to worry too much about how long it took.
If you don't know anything about Ralph Nader – or maybe just vaguely remember the name as a side story from the Bush-Gore election drama of 2000 - why not give it a read. He's certainly packed a helluva lot into those 90 years.
And thinking about someone who's lived almost twice as many years on the planet as I have certainly put my own feelings about ageing into perspective!
3. ‘CEO Power Hour’ with the Female Entrepreneurs Association
About 6 months ago I subscribed to a tech platform called FEA Create – set up by a woman-owned British company as an all-in-one alternative to some of the big multinational platforms people use for various functions in their online businesses including web hosting, online courses, booking calendars, membership areas etc.
This month they decided to open up their broader membership to people like me who pay for their tech platform so I decided to dive right in with their monthly group business planning session on Zoom.
I found having a dedicated time to ensure I actually got on and did this – and the shared group aspect and cheer-leading from the other women in the Zoom chat – enjoyably motivating. Both getting stuck in here on Substack and dipping my toes into the entrepreneurial world make me feel a bit like the new girl at school after so many years in the comfortingly familiar, if somewhat troubled, world of documentary. But I'm always energised by meeting new people so it's all good.
Unfortunately this too got interrupted as I had to leave to get my daughter from nursery before the end. But it was a pretty positive first go so I'll definitely try and do it again next month.
WHAT I'M LOVING ON SUBSTACK THIS WEEK
One of the very first Substacks I subscribed to,
is such a joy – I love reading about people older than me, some by a little, some by a lot, as they reflect on their lives so far and how life feels to them at their current age. It's very much in the same spirit as my nascent life stories business I think – springing from a recognition that every life is magical in its way and that reflecting on your life journey can be fun and valuable, for you and for others.This interview came at a perfect time for me, reminding me that where I am on my own ageing journey is *just fine* And I absolutely share this sentiment - being in the middle is definitely pretty cool in this regard:
I love hanging out with younger people, so I can bask in all their potential, and I love hanging out with older people so I can bask in all their wisdom.
Really related to this post from
about just writing the real, messy stuff of living, working, parenting etc that she wants to write rather than “telling tales on people I’ve worked with in the past and not liked” in a bid to get more subscribers (boy, I could write some of those posts too).And the honesty of not necessarily being able to stick to a previously stated posting schedule. I appreciate seeing other people figuring out their own experiences of this platform whilst I'm trying to do the same.
Much to digest in this thought-provoking piece - both on how honest we are in the way we describe our own lives to ourselves, and on broader questions around the impacts of wealth & privilege. The latter is something I have a lot of complicated, personal thoughts about and am trying to be brave enough to work through some of these publicly – watch this space, eh.
Thanks for being here - and please do come say hi! Till next week then.
Watch my film on Netflix (in Europe) or Vimeo (everywhere else) - or see trailer, reviews & bonus content HERE
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Life stories website – coming soon...