“when you’re fighting off the alligators, it’s hard to remember you were trying to drain the swamp”

a fascinating week in Australian history in a macro sense [1st female prime minister] and some micro ‘rent asunder’ moments at the micro level for oneself

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having just returned last Tuesday morning on the Spirit of Tasmania from Melbourne | that ship can only be described as a floating RSL | I was required to front up to a conciliation session with the Australian Human Rights Commission in the afternoon | needless to say the content of the session must forever remain confidential | however the process, the experience and the outcome of that journey has acted as a shocking and immediate catalyst for re-evaluating one’s professional life and the phenomenal level of commitment I have made to my existing leadership role within the organisation I work for

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that evening my oldest sister contacted me, in some panic, indicating that our mother has been starving herself to facilitate her own death | now I am good in a crisis and went immediately into task focus mode | putting all emotions into an intellectual glove compartment until I could determine the seriousness of the situation and what I was going to do

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in a strange but epiphany-like way the personally and professionally unsatisfying experience of the Australian Human Rights Commission earlier | provided a turning point in the priority I needed to give family, friends, Douglas and myself | consequently I had no hesitation in deciding to make plans to go to South Australia and if necessary be with my mother and siblings in her final days or weeks

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Douglas has been a model partner throughout the week and what can I say | he is the best!

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My work life now takes about 4^th place in my life and being away ffrom Tasmania for sometime will provide an opportunity to re-evaluate what I want to do in this area for the next year or so | having invested a phenomenal amount of time, intellectual endeavour and intellectual warfare and sheer hard work into my role for the last year | I feel it has been like pushing shit up a hill all the way | is it worth it in the long term? | it is particularly sobering to remind oneself that when you leave an organisation you only have about a 3 to 4 month history after you leave | then you effectively disappear and really didn’t matter …