Skip to main content

Work in Progress


Leaning Tower of Pisa (oh and me)
Most people will recognize the structure in the background of this picture as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, located in Pisa, Italy.

 The Tower began its slow "lean" into notoriety only a few years after the completion of the first floor construction began in 1173.  

 The soft subsoil was unable to adequately support the weight of the structure when the second floor was added some five years later; the only thing saving it from toppling over was the 200 years of war that followed.  

 The earth was able to shift and compress enough to support the foundation for future building.

 Various strategies were employed to correct the lean prior to the project's completion some 200 years later, including building walls on some levels taller on one side than the other, but the tower continued its precarious list.  
It was eventually closed to the public in 1990 while a multinational task force of engineers, mathematicians, and historians met to discuss how to  preserve the newly designate UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

 In 2008, scientist and engineers finally extracted soil from under one side which preserved the tilt but brought the tower to a stable condition. Today, it remains at an almost 4 degree angle, the top some 13 feet off centre.  Experts have pronounced it stable for the next 200 years-should conditions remain the same.  
                
What most people will not recognize in this picture is the small figure in the foreground. 

 That is me...circa 1970.  

 The reason I chose this photo to launch my blog is that like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I too am a "work in progress".  

 I have spent years building on a foundation I thought was strong enough to keep me upright.  When I started to notice I was loosing my footing,  heading off balance, I tried a variety of strategies --moving--going back to school--career changes--frantically calling in experts for advice.

 When the problem is your foundation...it is not an easy fix.   

 Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I have had to "close down" for repairs.  

 Like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I am consulting experts, doing research --all to help me explore what might be going on and how I can safely "open up" again, retaining the uniqueness that makes me, me while being more stable. 

 I am collecting the tools I need.  I am the engineer of my own future.  I have to dig and extract a lot of muck that may not be pretty to get myself back to where I am on stable ground.  

The work is mine to do...and so here is where I start. 




Labels:
Location: Pisa Province of Pisa, Italy

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Keeping Afloat in Darkness - When Robin Williams is Gone

A few weeks ago Robin Williams was everywhere you looked. People were desperate for details; to find the one thing that assured them that his situation was so different from theirs that they are safe; that it could never be them. But if you suffer from depression, the suicide of such a brilliant, successful, individual; part of our lives for so many years and responsible for so many laughs; looks like a leak in your boat. A friend asked me, "Ok but no one knows what the future holds.  Could he not see that?" For someone drowning in the dark spiral of depression, there is no future. There is only now. There is only nothing.  The boat is gone.  You are under. It is not about your spouse or your friends or your kids or career or fans or dogs or anything.  When the darkness squeezes it is all about now.  And now is nothing.  It is bleak and empty and so dark, you cannot see a bottom, or edges or surface ---just darkness. "Some...
4 comments
There is more good stuff--keep reading»

Being Enough

I am grateful that the chapters in The Gifts of Imperfection are short.  Each one overflows with concepts that ask you to reach down to your very core and dig around a bit with a sharp object.  Sometimes you have to pull back and take a break.  Like at the dentist...when you have to put your hand up...they let you close your mouth for a minute....you stretch your jaw....rinse maybe.  "You ok to continue?" You lie back, take a breath, try to get comfortable, open up, look at the outline of the hand holding the drill backlit by that horrible light...and nod. Not to say it is all bad.  But this chapter on Exploring the Power of Love, Belonging, and Being Enough made me uncomfortable in my skin.  I squinted a lot.  Really, really trying to get at what she was saying without having to feel what she is saying....which is not the purpose.  So I had to read the chapter a few times.  Then I fiddled around on Facebook and Outlook to avoid sta...
5 comments
There is more good stuff--keep reading»

Shame is A Full-Contact Emotion (Brené Brown)

It is a cool outside this morning and I have on my fluffy red robe as I sit outside and watch the birds flit back and forth from the fence to the feeder----arrogantly tossing aside imperfect sunflower seeds to get to the good ones.   The discarded seeds, some empty, some full, punctuate my deck, waiting for the squirrels, who will later claim this easy buffet. I am still reading Brené and The Gifts of Imperfection. Feels a bit like learning a new language ---I see the words---I hear the words---but the meaning is so diffuse...I need to read and reread and sometimes, even read out loud to make the words stick It is hard work.    And while the smooth cover of her book lies balanced on my palm, seemingly weightless, many of the concepts have a density that knocks me flat on my ass ---like a large medicine ball. CATCH THIS ONE!   Oooooooof!   I am down.    Eyes wide, trying to catch my breath, wrestling with the weight of hefty concept...
Post a Comment
There is more good stuff--keep reading»