This looks set to be the most stressful holiday season yet. One colleague has gone on maternity leave, the other has tendered his resignation and will leave middle of next month, and yet another has gone back to her hometown for the holidays for a week. In the meantime, I'll have 2 interns, 1 new staff, 10 books (and counting), 3 journals, and a colleague's email account on my hands.
I feel like I've truly been inducted into real publishing world. This was what I thought I had wanted to experience when I decided to leave the comfort of the research centre--stress and deadlines and fractious authors--the real stuff that this line is made of. But thinking is just thinking; now that I'm standing right in the middle of it, I feel seriously disconcerted and a bit scared.
I'd be lying if I were to say I've not thought of backing out. It's really quite a pleasant thought, but only as a thought. :) It did take me a lot to leave what I had come to regard as a safe haven and now that I'm finally out, I really should make the most of it. To those who are also struggling in one way or another, as an old saying (courtesy of Queen Rania) goes, "a ship in the harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for". Ahoy, mates! Full speed ahead!
Of lazy dreams and idle days
that life seems so far away
still, I'll take heart in what they say
"while the sun shines, make the hay"
