>Worth Repeating

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I love to read, and I love to share what I read, and I love to repeat what I read. Here’s what’s rattling around in my head today:

She had not made a lot of money, but she had not made a loss, and she had been happy and entertained. That counted for infinitely more than a vigorously healthy balance sheet. In fact, she thought, annual accounts should include an item specifically headed ‘Happiness’, alongside expenses and receipts and the like. That figure in her accounts was a very large one, she thought.

– Tears of the Giraffe, Alexander McCall Smith

It’s been a little over a year since I “retired” from my marketing career. Financially speaking, ouch. But in every other aspect: emotional health, creativity, energy, time…it’s been a good thing. There have been adjustements – you don’t work 14 years at that pace without a bit of whiplash when you downshift. But, looking back (20/20 hindsight and all that) even a secretary has to communicate, and in so doing, must cut through the clutter to get a point across. I like to think of myself as a professional storyteller, really. That doesn’t stop when the job title changes – it’s who I am.

I’ve also had the opportunity to learn graphic design, at which, frankly, I thought I would be useless. But I like it. I’m stretching. I’m reaching. And now that I’m not always writing to make someone or something else sound better, smarter, faster or more desirable…I finally feel like I can say what I want to say. When I want to say it…which, judging by the rate at which I’m populating this blog, is pretty much all the time.

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