Today’s Daily Stoic writing prompt:  Am I doing work that matters?

I know the prompt is regarding work in the sense of work on one’s self, on one’s relationship with the world, on the core values that really matter in the world.  There, I’ve rarely felt that I’ve not been an active work in progress, which means I have usually given a great deal of thought to virtues and qualities I wanted to amplify as well as habits I’ve worked to break.

But I do worry about my other work–and maybe I shouldn’t.  Again, that’s the product of a childhood where my chief source of self-worth was based on being a star student, at the top of my class.  I don’t feel the same push to excel at my actual job–I want to do it well, but I’m not for career ladder-climbing, because being a fabulous project manager doesn’t seem to feed my soul.  However, doing the job with integrity is certainly a key motivating factor.   The place where I really push myself is in artistic and creative matters.

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I nervously peered at the news feed this afternoon, worried about the “armed protests” allegedly planned on all 50 state capitals by Trumpists–of course, paying particular attention to Columbus.  There, everything has been peaceful and police have outnumbered protesters, which is apparently the pattern so far.  Part of me is breathing a little easier, but I know that these next few days are a bit of an unknown–will the alt-right crawl back under their rocks, or will they be emboldened?  That latter certainly seems to be a big worry, as more and more details come out about the January 6 attack and its scope.  This certainly seems to confirm what many had been warning about for the duration of the current presidency (and before)–that increasingly, extremists, emboldened by inroads made in police forces, have taken the opportunity during the past four years, supported by Trumpist rhetoric–to grow unchecked, even as groups like the FBI warned of this rise.  But the current administration not only ignored this intelligence, they clearly supported these groups with either turning their heads or urging them on.

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In more pleasant news, I’m now all-in on the embroidery, in that hyperfocused phase.  While listening to the last several episodes of Root of Evil, I finished up the rest of the cat bits (foot and tail) and started in on the hands, which I worked on during my RPG game and just finished up.  (I’ll take care of any trailing details tomorrow, including cat whiskers.)