Day 151 of 365: It's All a Bit Messy Now

I have six pages of textbook reading to do, and, after that, I am finished with the pre-class homework. It's been interesting, finishing homework in a week when every other student technically got three weeks. But it was somewhat reminiscent of my undergrad days, when that amount of homework was just what you got in between classes, especially if that class only met once a week. I have a quasi-understanding of what I have been reading and watching and I'm psyched for classes to start on Saturday. The teacher running the coursework reminds me of one of my bridesmaids (and actually looks a bit like her as well) and I know her snarky humor and laid back attitude is going to make even the more tedious parts of anatomy and physiology and yogic philosophy entertaining.


There is only one part I am not looking forward to: the introductions.


Every knows how the beginning of classes first plays out: we introduce ourselves, saying our name, where we're from, why we're taking the class ... and, in the case of night classes/continuing education, "what you do". The general idea is that, since you're taking these nights and weekend classes and we're all adults, we all have careers. This person is a receptionist, that person works in insurance, etc.


If I were being honest, I would have to explain that I: 1) Model, and 2) Write. There's something mildly unnerving in the answer, "Well, I teach a few tai chi classes [which, let's be real here, is already an unorthodox way to get a paycheck], I also model and I've been trying to sell at least one of my manuscripts while finding other avenues to make money from my writing."


A lot messier than "dental hygienist".


But you know what? It's also a lot more interesting. Yeah, I have practically no proper "career", and instead divide up my time between teaching/practicing tai chi, modeling (although less so now that it's winter), writing, and housekeeping (because keeping a house clean is way more involved than keeping an apartment clean) -- as well as dividing up my time in more selfish ways, like learning Spanish and reading and training for a marathon (which, at this point, has hit the skids, but thankfully I have 10 months to not suck at running). Yeah, things are a bit messy right now. But this is the good mess. I like this mess. Truth be told, things were way messier when I worked as a preschool teacher, working myself past maximum capacity, coming home crying because the stress was getting to be that much. It's just, to the outside world, I didn't look messy. I was a full-time teacher running parent workshops and writing progress reports. Obviously I knew what I was doing.


So maybe I'll start my introduction with, "I'm Abby, I've been doing yoga now for almost three years, and it's all a bit messy right now. But that's okay."