Time to grow up?

Well once again, I've faced the supervisor gauntlet and come through the other side, relatively unscathed...

It turns out however that the chapter I've been working on would have been better crafted had a silver-back gorilla been given the task and told to write about the first thing that came into its head. So I'm back to the drawing-board and preparing to work like a mad-person (or like Si at least) for another 4-6 weeks at which point I'll have to get ready to leave the country again in a little over a month - as soon after New Year as possible.

The reason I have to leave so promptly is that I've been told I may have to spend 8 months rather than 6 months gathering my data as 6 is just not enough. This would be fine (ish) if it weren't for the fact that one of my oldest friends is getting married August 2nd and I was planning to be there. I may not be able to be there now.

Yesterday as I reflected on the interesting turn my life seems to be taking (i.e. I'm having to put work before my friends and make choices based on prioritising work rather than my relationships) I realised that actually this is something a lot of people have to do and it's a little bit about growing up. I'm not saying I want to always put work ahead of my friends - in fact it's something I want to avoid doing as much as possible. But it's good to learn a little bit about working really hard and what that actually involves. It's a fairly new concept for me I have to say.

I'm not sure what God thinks about working hard. I think it can be a valuable and a dangerous thing and maybe God sees it both ways. For me, right now, I think it's part of a steep learning curve that seems to have characterised the last 11 months of my life. It's a good curve but a slightly daunting one at times.