Tall Drink of Nerd: Zen and the Art of Wardrobe Maintenance
a blogumn by Amy Robinson
Today commemorates my one-year anniversary of working again at an officey-type day job. While it’s great to keep this job in this dung-beetle fodder of an economy, I do miss my freedom. For a year and a half prior to that monumental “first day”, I had the opportunity to work on my own home business. I did miss the day-to-day socializations of a structured corporation, but I started becoming the person I had always tried to be. That lady was fun and mindful, healthy and creative. I was open to any prospect the universe threw at me and I prospered as a human, if not as a business owner.
About a month after I put the golden shackles back on, I realized my life was slowly changing. The small detail that alerted me to the change was simple. I had put my shirt on backwards and wore it that way all day long. It was a plain white cami that I wore under a sparkly blue button up, so no one else noticed that I had a shirt on backwards. Early in the day, I glanced down and noticed a tag sticking out of my cleavage. That little white flag of surrender, with laundry instructions, signaled much bigger things than just my backwards attire. Wearing backward clothes meant I was losing it, unaccustomed to daily working life of; waking, exercising, showering, dressing, driving, sitting, socializing, eating, typing, chatting, etc… This was a world for suckers, the world for everyone I knew and now for me again.
After that teeny wardrobe malfunction, I made it my goal to still live mindfully. I try to only let thoughtful and attentive words slip from my mouth, to only eat healthy foods from the earth, to listen and absorb the stories of those around me, to learn from others. These mindful goals are much easier without the distraction of 9 hours in a cube, convincing IT to expedite the resetting of my password, or prepping the PowerPoint deck for my 4th meeting of the day. Why is an attentive, thoughtful life easier to achieve when unemployed, but not hurting for cash? As the old saying goes, it’s easy to know how to row the boat when you only stay in calm waters. (So, I ask, why isn’t Paris Hilton the Dalai Llama?)
Now, I strive to achieve Zen in the chaos of daily life, which is where Zen is meant to serve best. At the very least, I strive to put my clothes on correctly.
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flickr.com photo credit: geekgirly
Want to read more by Amy? Check out her regular blog, Stinky Junior