{"id":12446,"date":"2018-01-25T09:08:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T08:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.richardlittledale.co.uk\/?p=12446"},"modified":"2018-01-25T10:01:39","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T09:01:39","slug":"adjustment-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/176.32.230.12\/richardlittledale.co.uk\/2018\/01\/25\/adjustment-fatigue\/","title":{"rendered":"Adjustment fatigue"},"content":{"rendered":"
Another postcard from the land of grief<\/span> Yesterday was a good day – infused with the zesty scent of new possibilities and a whole string of new stories to be published. Yesterday was a bad day – stalked by the dank smell of melancholy. Yesterday was a good day – meeting with people who matter in all sorts of ways. Yesterday was a bad day – with fears about tomorrow playing some ghastly version of hide-and-seek amongst the realities of today. Yesterday, like most days in this foreign land, was exhausting.<\/p>\n It is easy to forget that simply living \u2018abroad\u2019 in a place where language and culture and norms do not come naturally, is tiring. Unwittingly, you are engaged in a constant battle to adjust, as if spending your day on a balance ball. Years ago now, I spent a year living abroad and speaking a foreign language nearly all the time. For the first few months, even the very business of living was exhausting. The years have not changed that.<\/p>\n Hopefully, the intervening years have taught me that fatigue cannot be charged, like a bull at a red rag. Nor can it be ignored, like some distant smoke alarm which seems like somebody else\u2019s problem. Instead, it must be accommodated, like a creeper growing round<\/em> the lamppost or a tree growing away<\/em> from the immovable fence. This, too, is an adjustment – but hopefully it will pay dividends when said tree flourishes.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another postcard from the land of grief Yesterday was a good day – infused with the zesty scent of new possibilities and a whole string of new stories to be published. Yesterday was a bad day – stalked by the … Continue reading
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