Hello and welcome to my very first post! I am here because I am trying to find ways to broaden my reach and to make new connections. I am here to take stock of all the things that go on in my diverse work life and my reflections and musings on those many things and hopefully, if they are interesting enough, you might enjoy reading about them.

I am also here because my dear friend

Firstly, I wanted to ask you, how balanced is your life? I want to know, is there anyone out there who actually feels like they have achieved balance? And, if so, how the hell did you do it? Please do tell, especially if you are in the creative industries like me.

For me, balance is often a mirage, just as I’m getting close, it wobbles and vanishes, only to reappear further ahead again. I have dreamt of balance being a magical relaxing state of being in which I somehow have ample time to absorb myself in painting everyday, go on walks and exercise, eat well, teach my classes, do admin and marketing, do my part to maintain the house, look after our animals and catch up with friends and watch the birds.

But, this is obviously unattainable! It doesn’t even account for eating and sleeping, and the very important act of doing nothing at all.

Upon the advice of another great friend, I’ve started something called chunking, a way of breaking up lots of tasks into small bite size pieces, so that the day is filled with small amounts of many different things. I believe the idea is to chip away in little increments in order to achieve the whole task over time whilst allowing for all the other ones to be completed too.

Admittedly, this has been working rather well, but only when I scale back expectations. I still find myself wanting to achieve an insurmountable number of goals in one day. I won’t bother to unpack that can of societal influence and instilled women’s roles worms as to why, but I feel that now I am aware of that tendency in me, I can push back a bit and try to get the balance we all deserve to have.

I’m celebrating a small win in my strive for balance today, and that is the completion of the first painting for a book I am working on, this book is still taking shape but I think its main goal is to encourage our connection to our feathered friends and beyond that, to our natural environment in general. I will be posting more updates on my book journey under the Ornithophile tab.

Above image: Splendid Fairy Wren Male in mating plumage transition, watercolour on paper, Rebecca Prince, March 2024 (copyright)

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And the occasional, hopefully not too boring and amateur attempt at philosophical musings.