Scenes from a Life: The Iceburg {7/9}

Seen: Editor at a not-for-profit university press. Passionate about resources that cultivate the next generation. Committed to making a difference in the world through educational publishing.
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Unseen: Fear. What she's really wanted all her life is to be a writer. In the annual school days book her mother kept, only one occupation appeared consistently, year after year, amidst passing fancies and pipe dreams like "ballerina," "firefighter," and "astronaut," and it was this: Author. If she's honest with herself, working in publishing has been the safe way to spend a life surrounded by words without having to risk trying to publish her own. And failing. 

Unseen: Doubt. "We always expected you'd drive a Beamer and occupy the corner office on the top floor," her favourite uncle once said to her. She has never been motivated by prestige or wealth. But there are times she wonders if perhaps she aspired to too little.

Unseen: Discomfort. She looks around some days and is certain she is being smothered by structure. Her creative brain is most active around 2am. She thinks best while running in silence through the woods. Her preferred working posture is sitting cross-legged and barefoot in front of the keyboard. None of this is compatible with office culture.

What is seen is never the entire picture (and is usually only a fraction of the story). What is seen does not always allude to what is unseen. What is unseen does not negate what is seen. We are multiplex, layered, composite creatures. 

She is no different.

Soundtrack: Elvis Costello, "Tear Off Your Own Head"