I think, every time anyone of us starts a process, the desire to see it completed speedily could be foremost in our "upper storey". However, as we all know, the "fast forward"-desire is often given a few blows along the rocky road as we try to navigate our path to reach our moment of jubilation.
I am in such a process currently, and I am not referring to my departure from Saudi Arabia. A new project is underway that requires collaboration between a layout artist and myself; in the background lurks a graphic designer too, he or she must give substance to the ideas the layout artist and myself envisage for the front cover of the book. What makes this a little difficult for me is that the company concerned cannot phone me (anymore because somehow their calls just do not get through to me), they do not want to Skype and they do not want to use WhatsApp calls. These hindrances are company policies, which I have to accept. So, the only channel left for us to use is the e-mail one. (I even made a video recording of myself a few weeks ago to make sure they understand me, and they could see me, and I explained things as best I could, which helped, I hope.)
I must just add an aside here: the lady dealing with me is very nice and out of the ten companies I reached out to, they were the only one who phoned me and told me they wanted to work with me and they are keeping their word. The other companies just sent (and still send) automated responses and there was and is no personal touch, which is what one so desperately desires.
As the e-mails were flying back and forth about the cover problem I became a bit "frustrated" because it seemed as if the lovely lady dealing with me - who must have many other projects flying through her screen - was not as "on board" as I thought she was. It also led to me to re-do or undo things which wasted my time I felt. But, was she wasting my time?
My desire for a speedy process almost jeopardized the quality of the work I was after. The "gap" her perceived absent-minded stance created gave me time to rethink our other options and I "awakened" once more to the benefits collaboration provides. I must turn down the haste and not think of "waste".
The image I attach today is called "Awakening", the subtitle of the project we are trying to launch and it could be the very image that could be used in some form on the front cover. (I gave my final input and now the designer has carte blanche.) May you too enjoy an "awakening" that will give you hope.
Comments