notjustamilitarywife

As you may or may not know, I recently quit my job to try my hand at being a full-time freelance writer .  Over the past month and a half, I’ve written in various places around my house: at the antique desk in the office, with the laptop balanced on my knees in bed, working simultaneously on the laptop and the desktop on the L-shaped relic from my Roanoke apartment, lying on my stomach sprawled on the chaise lounge, typing away at the dining room table.  My workspace for the past two weeks has involved sitting cross-legged on the guest bed, with the ironing board as my ‘desk.’  None of these options, however, have had all the elements I’d like for the  ‘perfect work space.’  I don’t know quite yet what exactly the ‘perfect work space’ would be, but I’ve been daydreaming about it a lot recently.

I have some office tools and organizational solutions that I’d like to implement.  I also have some sweet thoughts about creating a comfortable and efficient space for my work-at-home venture.  So far I have implemented none of them.  Why?  It’s because I am falling into what I call the “Military Procrastination Trap.”

I kinda made the term up.  But I think most military spouses out there will know what I am talking about.  There comes a point, when you’ve got a set of orders telling you where and when you’ll next be moving, where you stop thinking in terms of “what I’ll do here,” and begin thinking in terms of, “what I’m going to do in my next place.”  Sure, I could hang my bulletin boards and calendars here- I could arrange a perfect work space- but is it worth it for the two months I have left here?  I daydream about my perfect work station, but it’s in Georgia.  Thoughts of attempting it here are always immediately cut short with “what’s the point?”

It’s not just my work station that is suffering.  I feel like this phenomenon is spilling over into all aspects of my life.  For instance, again with my work, I’m excited about attempting to network and find clients who may hire me on a long term basis to do writing work for their company.  But I have zero motivation to do it here.  Again- What’s The Point?  Let’s say I booze and schmooze and I find someone who wants to hire me to do some writing contract work.  By the time they’ve gotten it approved by higher ups and are ready to consult with me about the assignment (especially considering we are headed into the holiday season), I’ll have one foot out the door to the East Coast.  I feel antsy and uncomfortable NOT doing any networking or active searching for local clients- but it just feels pointless to do it here when my time here is up so soon.

I don’t mind moving, in that I like seeing new places and having the opportunity to set up life in new communities.  But I hate, hate, HATE the period of limbo between two homes!  I feel ineffectual and mired. I’m trying to overcome the ‘what’s the point’ attitude (I think I might write more about this on my other blog), but it’s really hard in the aspects of life related to a military move.

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