Personal: A Balancing Act

 Sometimes I have to force myself to shut up in order to carry on. 

Coming home is surreal and confronting. I feel like I'm inside a shadow. 

I live with my grandparents, in the house where my mom and her siblings have many unpleasant memories. This house feels dark and disorganized. Everywhere I turn, I am picking up proverbial pieces of lumber, things falling from the walls... things out of place... things forgotten.

My grandmother relapses again in her lifelong addiction with alcohol. She fell in the living room while I was in the shower. Before then, I'd heard, "Fuck this... *mumbled garble made worse with the sound of water overhead," and "Fuck that *something else...", and finally, "Fuck you!" and a thump.

Shampoo still in my hair, I turned off the faucet, slipped on my robe - still soaking wet - and puddled my way to the living room. She lay on the floor and my grandpa stood over her. 

I wondered if he pushed her. 

I am afraid of that. 

Even though they are old and he is much calmer now, he raised his hand to her several times when they were young, partying parents.

I watched as they shakily held onto each other, until she was sitting upright and could make her way to the recliner. I asked if they were okay. 

I returned to my shower and rinsed the shampoo. I tried to go back to the song I was singing before.

I don't know if that's what I should be doing or not. If it's wrong to look the other way, so to speak. I wonder what I can do to help them. Even though they are old and some people argue that they are too old to want to change, I can't accept that. I have never been able to accept the idea that you stop changing or learning at a certain age. I want to help them break their bad habits and take better care of themselves.

Dwelling on this while I shower... formulating ways to better their lives and help steer them toward a healthier old age, trying to understand the choices they've made, realizing things about your family, deciding how that realization affects you... these, for me are worthy pastimes. The insight gained from this can help me understand and make better the lives of those around me. Plus, I love to solve puzzles. I love to make connections. I also love to make things better. More efficient. More sustainable. I love how things are when they're organized, balanced. 

But at times, getting there is emotionally difficult. Weird as it sounds, growth only happens from changing the process half the time, the other half of the time, it comes from changing your mentality, having a hard conversation, or confronting something you've been avoiding. I heard in a podcast recently that in order to grow, you have to let go.

Besides all this, I have actual commitments that demand my attention. Like, a lot of my attention. I have projects, clients, errands, bills... adult things to take care of. These are the things I should be thinking about. I need to get in the right headspace to go to work (from my computer in the spare room) after this.

These intense responsibilities and familial distress weigh on me, but I also remind myself that I don't have to have it all figured out today.

While I don't want to put things off and never see to them, at this moment, I have to catch up. Buckle down. I have three podcast episodes from two different clients to start on, plus throwing some finishing touches on one I finished yesterday. I have to send invoices and check where I am at for the week. Thinking about all of this stresses me out, because I am close to the deadline with all of it, and each day that passes is another that I don't make money.

Since setting a definite goal of $300 per week income, from any source, I keep a close eye on my finances day to day. It is a challenge for me - my brain has been busy. Surprisingly, it has also been happy. Not once have I actually reached my goal, but I know exactly what I do have coming in, and writing each transaction down makes me feel accomplished.

Another thing I am incredibly happy about is that, for the most part, I direct my energy towards things that I love. Even when I am editing audio and I reaaaaaally don't want to be, the content is at least interesting because I only work regularly with people that interest and inspire me. A quote comes to mind at the moment... I'll have to paraphrase it, 

"There will never be a job or an aspect of life that doesn't come with a big pile of shit. Even your dream job will come with tasks that you hate - or you learn to hate. You have to stick with something that is worth going through the pile of shit for. It's different for everyone." 

(I'm pretty sure I read it in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.)

Overall, the things I am working toward light me up inside. I am making art and helping people find pen pals with my stationery store, I am traveling and delivering gifts with my foreign food sale orders, I am learning more about business and sustainable crafting while I edit for some amazing podcasts, I am making my grandparent's lives better with my insane organizing. 

My grandma can see the floor again in her spare room. I turned it into the sewing room and displayed all of her mother's fabric on racks that lean against the wall, so she can see them and be inspired to create. This is one of the things I've undertaken to rearrange and reorganize the house to fit their needs. It all takes a lot of energy,  but the effects are worth it. Sentiment aside, the benefit of a clean and organized house that stimulates creativity is tenfold. It's an investment into a better future. And it's a good way to keep busy.

All of these things have a tendency to stress me out, even though I willingly choose to do them. Yet, they do bring me joy, even if its only when they're over.

So I guess where I'm getting with all this is that life is hard, but I'm alright.

*cue the Jo Dee Messina 

I'm signing off...

Hopefully,
Alison

I'm Sorry I Stopped Writing

    How to start these things? That's always the worst part.

    For a book-obsessed girl in her early 20s on her way to take the world by storm, I was ready at the keyboard and determined to see and learn everything. 

    That was 4 years ago. 

    I only wrote like I wanted for the first 3 months. After that, things got boring for a while, and then very stressful, and too confusing to make sense of, and then too conflicting to talk about, and then too shameful to admit. I wrote here and there, and things got a lot better. I made sense of them, I found my voice, I had the best times of my life and I discovered groundbreaking things, but some of them were mine. 

    And I didn't keep writing. Not steadily. I wrote on and off on the blog. I wrote on and off in my journal. I wrote on scraps of paper and taped them on my wall, I collected scraps of paper to glue to my journal so I would only have to write a few short lines next to it. This way, I'd be able to document everything and look back on it later, when I had time to write. Once I had time to breathe.

    But after 4 years of that, 3 countries lived in and 2 visits home and then 2 visits to the city that became second home, I felt like a million scattered pieces of paper. 

    Still, I had my keyboard, and I'd picked up a microphone along the way. I had started a podcast during one of my motivated periods and I spent more time making episodes, doing interviews, talking about the things on my mind and what I'd seen and learned while crawling over the bits of earth I'd traveled to.

    But again, I was confronted with my shameful parts. I was so scared to offend people and scared of being judged. Often, the cultures we grow up in are strict in their social rules and expectations, and those can feel restrictive when you've outgrown some of those beliefs and discovered freedom.

    My thoughts were usually confronting for others and controversial in nature. Although I tried to tell it from my honest point of view and remained open to factual corrections about it / respectable debate, people were angry. Besides, I'd been on the road for so long now, meeting new faces every 3 to 6 months, all of my strongest connections were online. Everyone I loved was in another time zone. There were many feels during that time.

    That was a few months ago. During the worst of it, I was at one of my best friend's mom's house in England, staying with her for a while- just because. I would cry on the phone to my boyfriend about the comments I received on a recent article or episode or Facebook Post; I spent a lot of time writing in my journal to try to make sense of things or just going for walks to think. 

    Karla looked out for me and told me her honest opinion over and over again, which is exactly what I find security in and what I needed at the time. After spending a few weeks with her on 2 different occasions, she had helped me turn my head around.

I have to say, I also hear Ru Paul's voice in the back of my head telling me to tell my story, make people laugh, don't try to polish or present yourself in a certain way to the world - just be yourself, be vulnerable, use your strengths in every challenge and attack it with your own personality, shamelessly promote yourself whenever you can, and don't take yourself too seriously.

Oh and one more person, who always tells me to keep writing. Thank you, Mrs. Labrousse, my 6th grade Language Arts teacher who is a Facebook friend. I love that for us.

Now I know that I can be myself, I don't have to be afraid of showing up exactly how I show up, I don't have to pretend to have the answers or want to have the answers. I can give my very best, have the most fun, do the most good where it feels right, and even keep some secrets to myself if I want. I know that no matter what people say about me, they do not know me. Not like I know myself. And I am not afraid.

I've recently relaunched the podcast, but the blog that came from all the way from the early days and had evolved into a branded, matching copy of the podcast I haven't touched yet. Until I received a comment on one of my photos online about how being myself had inspired a good friend of mine. He said that he still checks the blog and reads it, even though I haven't written in months or even regularly before then. What more did I need? The itch has been at me to write for publish. I always have ideas for books floating around in my head, but this week it's actually 4 mini-books, so I know I'm ready.

Hence, here I am.

Every time I stop writing I always say I'm sorry I did it. But there's no real need for regret right now, because it's something I can so easily remedy. Why lament that I didn't do more of something if I can just do more of it starting now?

Note to self: don't worry about the negative comments, they're not about you, and don't count every view like your self esteem depends on it.

Signing off,

Alison

You Can Run, But You Can't Hide from Your Troubles

This morning as I drank that first, religious cup of coffee, I found myself opening my web browser and searching for flights. With 10 months down on my year-long exchange, I'll be moving on to the next destination soon.

It all went by very fast, as time seems to do in its strange, somehow also-creeping way. This morning I am reflecting on my time spent here and coming up... disappointed. The last year in Holland has been a bit of a dud, if I'm being honest. Getting kicked out of my first host parents' house, surviving a very non-ideal Dutch winter, dealing with the changes COVID insisted humanity make, and now watching my country from afar as they fight, yell, plead and hate has made it hard to stay positive. In addition to outward influences, I do a pretty good job of making myself miserable, which I guess  means that I'm just like everyone else on the planet. I decided a couple months after moving here that I needed to pursue the ultimate dream: digital nomadship. I spent a majority of my free time working. (You can take the girl out of America, but you can't take America out of the girl). While I spent a lot of time chasing stable income, I felt guilty for how much of my time I wasn't spending exploring the country.

Besides all of this, I've been incredibly lonely; both love-sick for my ex and home-sick for everyone else I care about who are spattered in different places around the globe - mainly, not where I am. I do have a few really good friends here whom I love dearly, but I have to admit, I am already hurting from missing them, and I haven't even left yet.

People often tell me how lucky I am to travel, how proud they are of me that I make it all work and how happy they are that I am gaining all this life experience. Of course, I know I am blessed, and I am proud of myself, too, because what didn't happen by chance that has allowed me to stay safe and adventuring has been a product of my own very hard work. But... it's really not all rainbows and butterflies.

Some days I wonder, why have all these adventures, if I have no one to share them with? Every single one of my best friends lives in my phone. When I explore a new city, I am the only one there. And let me tell you what, I am sick of going on first dates. I just want to be around people who know me. I want to be needed-- do a favor for a neighbor, bring a dish to a potluck, talk about mundane things or babysit my friend's kid.

Today, I know that this is true: you can run, but you can't hide from life's troubles. Even a year spent abroad in a European city can't make me happy just on its merits. So instead of trying to power through it, continuing on with the facade of my wonderful, romantic European life, I think I'll go back home to Eastern Oregon for a while. To be with family, to rest and find respite, to be needed and to lean on others, to be where I am understood.

Girls Going Places

Trying to live by this photo. Seen in NYC.

Just wanted to update everyone on what I am doing because I haven't done so in a long time!! Also, everyone is asking where the hell I am... whoops.

I am in New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, near where I was before. I was a live-in nanny with the family that I worked for last year, until they found a new nanny and I moved in with the kids' grandma. I have been back here since just after Christmas.

I am actually doing really well, I'm super busy! I'm doing a lot of resume building and self-development so I'm excited to share that because it makes me feel super pumped about life! I took some free lectures at Camden County College about autism from a child care provider's perspective. I learned about what autism is, the differences between tantrums and meltdowns, ways to communicate, how to teach them social skills, and much more. It has been so eye-opening and important! I am using some of the things I've learned already.

I'm also looking to pursue a Behavioral Assistant certification (also free!) which would mean I could help a child therapist with their patients and interact with the kids without having the therapist present. Although I am not planning to work as a behavioral assistant, I am passionate about teaching kids good manners, emotional health, social skills, and other important life skills.

I have plenty of work right now and luckily I pretty much make my own schedule. I have one family that I spend 15-20 hours a week with and three or four families that I babysit here and there for, on top of the learning that I'm doing, so it's great! I am teaching one of my kids Spanish which is challenging and so much fun for me.

I also joined a sign language group which meets once a week. I'm not able to give that one as much attention but it's good to go sit in the coffee shop and at least watch other people interact and try to stumble my way through a conversation. I've always loved sign language but I'm quite rusty right now.

I've interviewed lots with potential host families in the Netherlands about an Au Pair opportunity. If you don't know what an Au Pair is, it is a live-in nanny from a different country. You can hire them through agencies and they have a specific visa, with which the stipulations and duration varies per country but is used as a cultural exchange. It's a mutually beneficial situation because the host family, specifically the children, get exposure to a different culture and language, and so does the Au Pair. It allows a young person to travel and a busy family to have live-in help with the kids. I love the Netherlands so much when I took holiday there in December that I said, "I wanna move here!" and immediately started exploring different ways I could make that happen.

My current plans are to spend the duration of the summer in Jersey, learning and working as much as I can, then come home for all of August to attend a family reunion and spend time with loved ones, then head to the Netherlands in early September for a year-long Au Pair cultural exchange!
I'm excited and hopeful.

I'd love to hear from anyone reading this what they're up to lately, how they are and how their family is doing. I miss home often but can't seem to stay there long when the whole world is out there. So if you write me, maybe I can have the best of both, yeah?

Cheers,
Alison Maglaughlin
alimaglaughlin@gmail.com

Me in Jersey last week. Happy about Spring because it means more skateboarding.

Last week at an art gallery in NYC. 

NYC skyline from the skate park on Chelsea Pier.

NYC again, near Chelsea Pier. Two hours by bus from where I am in Jersey.