What a Week

I'm back!
I enjoyed a long and fun trip to the beach with friends. It was the "annual spontaneous gathering of Mormon singles at Duck Beach" for somewhere around the 30th year in a row.
As usual, our house was incredible, the friends were desirable, the food fantastic, and a good, wonderful time was had by all. (And there were some pretty intense Phase 10 games, made even more entertaining by spontaneous outbursts of song, that I may never stop laughing about.)
And somehow I've also kept up with the tradition of coming home from the beach with a nasty head cold. I have no idea how that happens every single year. It's one tradition I wouldn't mind killing off.
I read a ton, got a decent tan, and even got some good writing done. My goal was to meet Maslow's first 3 levels of needs, and relax, so that I could reach the top 2 levels, and find my creativity again. It took a few days, and I fell victim to lots of fun distractions repeatedly (for which I hold no remorse), but I'm happy to say, I did relax and write eventually.
The week was also (interrupted?) punctuated with the publication of "A Love Letter to the Single Men." It was an article I wrote for Meridian before I left town, that caused a few ripples and waves in the singles pool. I predicted I'd get positive and negative feedback, and I was right. It was just unusual to be surrounded by singles day in and out when the article came out. There was no escaping me or them, for better or for worse.
All in all, it was a great experience. Now it's time to put my energies into preparing for Russia, Serbia, and Romania. And finding a way to make a LOT more money. No one is getting rich on unemployment around here, believe you me. 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs or Why I Hate the Word Funemployed

I've been thinking a lot about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs lately. Specifically, in relation to creativity and unemployment.
The truth is, I don't recall much about studying Maslow's Hierarchy in school, possibly because I never took any psych classes. (I was a political communications and broadcast journalism major. I can tell you all about Lasswell's theories of communications. I won't tell you how many years it took for me to realize that Maslow and Lasswell were two different things. And yet, you'd be surprised how many similarities they share.) But I digress.
I hate the word "fun-employed." Lest you think this refers to people who love their jobs, it doesn't. It's a completely inaccurate way to describe unemployment. It's far from the truth. There's nothing fun about unemployment.
In fact, most unemployment is a struggle to meet Maslow's first two levels of needs. In theory, most people have that third level. (Except a single person who isn't really physically close to her friends and family would also struggle to meet this level as well.) When all of your resources are going into meeting those first two levels, it's hard, if not nearly impossible at times, to reach those top levels.
And that can be frustrating! How is unemployment ever "fun" when you are fighting and struggling to reach your basic needs? Fun can't be had until you've reached those basic needs. Creativity (which keeps me going) can't be achieved or sustained until all other needs are met. (No wonder I find it so hard to write and be creative during this time where supposedly I have nothing else to do but be creative.)
It's only just now, as I write this, really hitting me why it is so important to me that I take advantage of the opportunities that come my way for fun these days. For instance, the annual trip to Duck Beach next week. On one hand, my guilty side says I shouldn't do it. My time would be better spent at home, job hunting, saving my pennies.
On the other hand, Maslow and I can both see how a week at the beach fills all levels of my needs. Yes, including stability, food, etc. (It's all paid for and provided while I'm there.) For the one week I will have companionship and friends. Each level of the hierarchy will be met for just the one week, and I desperately crave that. And maybe, just maybe, my creativity will return once that has happened.
You may call it "funemployed." I call it meeting my most basic needs.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

I am home from vacation.
I don't want to be, but apparently you can't stay gone forever, no matter how hard you try.
This was my first non-working vacation in... so many year I can't remember the number. Sad, but true. I've always worked on vacation. This was my first time to ever attempt to not work. I have to admit, it's a pretty nice gig this whole vacationing thing. I'm going to have to try it again sometime. It only took me about 5 days to really get the hang of not working or being on an agenda. I liked it!
It was a wonderful week away. I made several great new friends that I really hope to be able to see again soon. The hardest part really was coming home and knowing that it may be another 6 months or a year before I get to socialize and make friends again. And that really depresses me!
I re-calibrated my priorities and ideals while I was gone as well. I had a few small wake-up calls that really helped put a few things into focus. It was a very good and healthy week for me.