Salvage yard: A place where old cars and machines are taken apart so that the metal and other parts they contain can be used again.
– Cambridge English Dictionary
A friend of mine told me recently that her fiancé was working at a salvage yard to pay the bills—but had to take a few days off work because his arms were sore.
“He won’t be working there much longer anyway,” she said, “because he recently got a food truck and will be opening that business in the spring.”
“Good for him!” I said.
“Yeah,” she said. “He’s pretty pumped. He is an amazing chef and starting a food truck business has been his dream for a long time. There were a few false starts…but then things finally clicked into place.”
She then proceeded to give me the low-down on where, in our little town, the truck will be located and, of course, what scrumptious dishes will be served…always important intel to know with summer fast approaching.
After hearing the juicy culinary details, I, too, am pretty pumped about this guy’s food truck dream coming to fruition!
But on the drive home, the writer in me got thinking (like the writer in me ever stops thinking?!):
My dream job of writing (which, thankfully, I get to do every single day) IS rather like working in a salvage yard…only instead of taking apart old cars and other machinery, I get to disassemble life’s experiences—my own and others—and salvage what I can by finding (and/or making) meaning…and learning a few lessons.
Then, I get to re-use that salvaged material by creating new entities…written works in the form of blogs (such as this one), books, play scripts and screenplays. And more often than not, I even get to use a salvaged bit in MORE than one project! Now, that’s some serious re-purposing.
I am a worker in the salvage yard of life.
Here’s another thing I am taking from the salvage yard story:
As fortunate as I am to be able to work at my dream job…I, too, have to be careful to take a few days off here and there, so my sore arms can recover. If I don’t take proper care of my body, my writing days will be numbered due to tendinitis and/or carpel tunnel syndrome.
What about you?
Whether you are a writer or not, might there be a recent (or not so recent) life experience you could salvage a lesson or two from?
Or perhaps you, too, might be due for a rest break?
Or…maybe you could use a reminder that even though you might not be doing your dream job now, don’t stop taking the necessary steps so that the universe CAN deliver it to you.
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