This is the earliest I have ever written to you on a Friday morning and it is also the latest. I\u2019m writing at about 6am but I\u2019m in Los Angeles and now realise that it\u2019s about 2pm where I usually am in the UK.<\/p>\n
Only, I thought I was extremely conscious of time zones because around half of the people I most work with are on the East Coast. Usually I can therefore deliver work to them early and to UK places right on time. Easy.<\/p>\n
Except the UK being eight hours ahead and the East coast five hours, now I\u2019m behind everybody and everything.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m shocked at how instantly I became adjusted to LA time. But I\u2019ve done this before, you\u2019ve done it before, I don\u2019t know why this trip is different.<\/p>\n
It is, though. This won\u2019t sound like a good thing but it feels great: I feel like I\u2019m in a bubble beneath everything. That\u2019s definitely the word, beneath: the rest of the world seems to be going on above me as well as many hours ahead.<\/p>\n
I should find that abhorrent and even writing it to you feels wrong, feels a betrayal of my usual self. And it\u2019s not as if I\u2019m on holiday: I am working as much as ever, just in Santa Monica. Whenever I\u2019m not in meetings, I\u2019m watching the clock trying to figure out how to fit the next thing. <\/p>\n
So there I am, clock watching – in the best way, I\u2019m not wishing this time away – and still I forget time zones.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to tell you something else I\u2019ve forgotten, too, and I think it might be related. For just these few days I\u2019m here, I\u2019ve stopped worrying about Brexit. I\u2019m working with someone who is just genuinely optimistic about life and as he stands there in Santa Monica sunshine, it\u2019s impossible to not be lifted.<\/p>\n
Mind you, I\u2019m in the kind of gorgeous hotel you\u2019d reject in order to have enough money to eat. For the first time in my life, I got on the plane in London and turned left. Later today, unless this time zone failure of mine reoccurs, I\u2019m meeting some of my heroes.<\/p>\n
And all of this is happening because I write. The things I think, the words in my head, are the direct and specific reason that I\u2019m here. I\u2019ve even been told that it was a Self Distract blog post that sealed the deal. <\/p>\n
Writing is a scary career and no one can ever recommend it, but if you happen to know any of the teachers at my secondary school who laughed at me, do please give them a funny look from me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is the earliest I have ever written to you on a Friday morning and it is also the latest. … Continue reading