’I’ve been in this retreat in Brazil for about a week and I feel like I’m in a parallel universe’ said my friend Jo over a syncopated Skype call. After months of adventurous travels through South America she is now in a spiritual retreat where people dress entirely in white.
I feel like I’m in a parallel universe too. I’ve been doing the 9 to 5 for over a month and I feel like my identity is being peeled away from me with every passing day. I feel like I’m becoming transparent. I am no longer a 9 to 5 person and being something who I am not, even in exchange for money, is a very difficult thing. It’s like stepping out from a universe and into another, worm hole behind me closed up forever.
But there is something that keeps me going in this parallel universe. I booked a week in September to go to a writers’ retreat in France. It’s something I’ve always dreamt of doing and thanks to my current 9 to 5, I am now also able to afford it.
So maybe I won’t dress in white but I’ll have privacy and professional help to aid my creative development. And maybe this will be the gate back to my normal universe, the one where being idle is not a crime and where I have enough time for absolutely everything.