⏯ Letter 102: Do you have play-life balance?

Video resume, City of Girls, first draft mentality, Coining phrases, White Plains surfing

Mar 18, 2022

If you are new here or missed last week's edition, you can catch up on the past letters here. If you are reading this for the first time, I’d love you to sign up below to join the other learn-it-alls:

Aloha fellow learn-it-all

Greetings from Diamond Head’s community garden in O’ahu 🌺

Not the most exhilarating update ahead… I've been hunkering down with my job search looking for new work.

My living situation in Hawaii has been becoming financially stressful. It's a hard truth, but sadly Honolulu is the most expensive city in the US to live in. The housing costs are 258% higher than where I grew up in Detroit, Michigan (Source: Nerdwallet). My mind doesn't even begin to comprehend that.

I created this video resume.

It's four minutes and 30 seconds long. Honestly, it's far from perfection, but it's good enough, so it’s shipped. Trying to summarize my professional career is far from easy. I've boiled it down to three core pillars of why I’ve pursued my past roles. The 3 C's: curiosity, community, and creation. These are the main drivers for how I make decisions.

I struggle with asking for help and shy away from promoting myself. With that said, if you know anyone who is hiring for full-time positions, I'm on the market and actively seeking. I’ve been applying to full-time jobs in course management, community management, and writing creative content. I have a handful of other transferrable skills. Here is my resume. If you know of any positions, that you think I'd be a good fit for, please don't hesitate to let me know.

I’m determined to make ends meet. I love my life here.

Now, let’s dive into letter 102 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!

❓ Question to think about

Do you have play-life balance?

🖊 Writing

Tonight at sunset yoga for the homies, I was struggling to sit in a child’s pose because my bruised knees were still throbbing. I continued to do a starfish pose on my back with some deep breaths looking at the breezy palms over my head. My shoulders hurt to even lay flat on the ground, let alone move into the plank position without immediately dropping in the attempt to go to the cobra position. My bum is burnt and my lips are blistered. Even sitting in this chair currently typing this is uncomfortable. Everything hurts.

What got me to this moment in time of being in pain while at a soothing yoga session?

Too much play.

Read Play-Life Balance

📖 Reading

I've been reading City of Girls by Liz Gilbert at night before I got to bed. Sometimes just one page a day. Other nights I can't put it down and stay up way past my bedtime.

The writing is so rich. I aspire to write in the metaphors and beautiful comical prose that Liz writes in. She is a legend and a large influence on me.
If you've read this book or are interested in reading it, drop a line, and let's connect!

🎙 Recording

As I mentioned above here is my Video Resume below. Check it out. Let me know your reactions. I’d love to hear from you.

🔎 Word to define

First draft mentality: being unafraid to put something down on paper, even if it’s a skeleton of what a finished product should be.

Iterating from the past and changing it until you get somewhere exquisite. Being open to a little play and experimentation. Listening closely to the deepest part of your heart and what sound it makes when something profound emerges.

Doing things because you believe they matter, even if there’s no proof yet that they do.

The draft isn’t right or wrong. It’s just the first step. Get rid of the fear that doing something (and messing up) makes it permanent, and instead see it as part of the process. We’re constantly reinventing ourselves, so why not have a bit fun with it?

🌟 Quote to inspire

"When people invent new words they do so playfully, metaphorically–– computers have viruses, one can surf the Internet, a naive person is clueless. In time, people forget the etymology or choose to disregard it." -Diane Ackerman

📷 Photos of the Week

I surfed at a new side further west on the Island near Pearl Harbor outside of Ewa Beach at a break called White Plains. The paddle out didn’t have a channel clear of waves so it was exhausting getting pounded by white water. Once I caught a ride though it was totally worth it. The waves had so much power to propel me forward and they didn’t die right away so I could surf them into shore. What a day that was.

Aside from surfing, I felt like a tropical Indiana Jones in this hat.

🙏 Shoutouts

To mentoring the current Write of Passage cohort that inspired me to write about Play-life balance to count as a triple assignment as my unique perspective, spiky point of view to prioritize play, and a coined phrase
To my roommate Emily Waguespack for casually coming up with this phrase on a drive home from a co-working space
To my friend Cassidy whose family is in my thoughts after recently losing his dad
To the inspiring travel blogger Lisa Romanov who I met at volleyball a couple of nights ago. Go check out Cultural Foodies if you're interested in travel destination tips or digit nomad lifestyle
To Nicole for writing startingfromnix and sharing about the first draft mentality that I define above

I appreciate you reading this! If ideas resonated, I’d love you to leave a comment, reply to this email, or send me a message on Twitter @JenVermet. Visit my online home if you forgot who I am. If you want to know what I'm up to right now, check my now page.

Never stop learning 😁

Mahalo 🌺

Jen