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A review by tarakingwrites
How to Not Always Be Working: A Toolkit for Creativity and Radical Self-Care by Marlee Grace
3.0
"When I am on the Q train, when I am in the shower lathering my pits, when I’m arguing with my partner about whose turn it is to change the cat’s litter, unfortunately/fortunately the poem is always right there, waiting for me to notice it." --Angel Nafis, from How to Not Always Be Working
Maybe my hopes were a little too high for this book. Or maybe I'm at a different stage in my struggle with the work/life balance. I wanted this book to be a revelation, but instead I found a confirmation--yes, it's hard to figure out work and life and all the things. Phones are confusing. Rest is good.
I wanted to dig deep into the questions of work vs. calling vs. job and found those categories stayed fairly grey for me. I found myself really only using the book to look at the creative work I do, which is fine -- but as I've aged, I've come to understand my work life is an entire ecosystem--the money job feeds into the creative work. And so, in some ways, when looking at "my work" it's also about whether or not I'm learning Go or attending programmer conferences. I wanted more nuanced, all-encompassing tools.
The book doesn't quite choose if it's a personal story or self-help, and I think ends up muddled because of it.
Maybe my hopes were a little too high for this book. Or maybe I'm at a different stage in my struggle with the work/life balance. I wanted this book to be a revelation, but instead I found a confirmation--yes, it's hard to figure out work and life and all the things. Phones are confusing. Rest is good.
I wanted to dig deep into the questions of work vs. calling vs. job and found those categories stayed fairly grey for me. I found myself really only using the book to look at the creative work I do, which is fine -- but as I've aged, I've come to understand my work life is an entire ecosystem--the money job feeds into the creative work. And so, in some ways, when looking at "my work" it's also about whether or not I'm learning Go or attending programmer conferences. I wanted more nuanced, all-encompassing tools.
The book doesn't quite choose if it's a personal story or self-help, and I think ends up muddled because of it.