Principles
Of all the principles I organise my life by, the Vicar's Day Off is one of the highest and holiest. It's sacrosanct; I don't pick up the phone, I even have a second answering machine message which says it's my day off, and please leave a message or call again tomorrow; and if at all possible I try and be out of the house for a large part of the day.
So the very occasional times when I swerve from this principle are worthy of special note. Like today, when I was invited to be a parish rep on the interviewing panel involved in an appointment to a senior post in the diocese. I won't comment on what happened (this comes under the Rules for Blogging, I would say); but just on how I felt. I realised that it's been years since I was last involved in the interview and appointment process; I remembered that interviewing can be more nerve-wracking than being interviewed - because you feel so much more responsible; and I felt pretty much an amateur compared with the other members of the panel with all their professional expertise and knowledge of the jargon. Yet I was pleased to find that my 'intuition' and 'gut feeling' seemed to be just as effective, and valued, as the expert knowledge of the others. I suppose that was why I was invited, and why I thought it was important enough to give up a day off for. So I shall be using that other answering machine message tomorrow, instead.
So the very occasional times when I swerve from this principle are worthy of special note. Like today, when I was invited to be a parish rep on the interviewing panel involved in an appointment to a senior post in the diocese. I won't comment on what happened (this comes under the Rules for Blogging, I would say); but just on how I felt. I realised that it's been years since I was last involved in the interview and appointment process; I remembered that interviewing can be more nerve-wracking than being interviewed - because you feel so much more responsible; and I felt pretty much an amateur compared with the other members of the panel with all their professional expertise and knowledge of the jargon. Yet I was pleased to find that my 'intuition' and 'gut feeling' seemed to be just as effective, and valued, as the expert knowledge of the others. I suppose that was why I was invited, and why I thought it was important enough to give up a day off for. So I shall be using that other answering machine message tomorrow, instead.
posted by Tony at 9/28/2004 08:13:00 pm
2 Comments:
Think I'm still learning how to "do" days off in this context...they used to be at times when the whole family was around, so though they weren't restful they were certainly full of recreation. Now, I'm free on Wednesdays, and they are all at work/school so it feels rather odd..am I really supposed to use all this time just on me? But at least it means I can wander through blogdom without a shadow of guilt...Hope your rescheduled day off is a happy one :-)
Oh yes, you really are supposed to use this time just on you - how else will you have any self to spend for others? (Though I have to admit, it can make you a tad selfish, for acres of time to oneself IS a luxury: like a day-long hot bath in exotic oils - if that isn't TOO decadent a comparison.)
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