Down the rabbit hole

Anyone else ever find themselves tumbling down the rabbit hole as you get lost online, clicking frantically from one page to another? I'm easily guilty of doing this on YouTube quite often, but lately, it's for a much more worthy cause.

The project I am currently working on is in the research and consultation phase. I can't give too much away as funding is still to be confirmed, but essentially I'm spending a lot of time researching sensory impairments, and in particular, how art can become accessible to people who can no longer see, hear, smell, taste, and so on. When I find something interesting online, it inevitably leads to writing something down and looking for that, a quick watch of a video and then on to something else, and so on. I can lose hours, and often do; luckily it can all be classified as research and not just time wasting as everything I find is contributing towards the bigger picture that we will present for funding.

I am equally fascinated and humbled. There truly are some amazing people out there and it's inspiring to be involved from my little corner of the world. The people I am meeting along the way are also so interesting. I'm getting to meet local artists who are so enthusiastic to be part of the project, and people who work with those who are blind and visually impaired every single day. I've been to a macular degeneration group who made me feel so grateful and more aware than ever how lucky we are that my mam has responded to her treatment for this age-related disease. Next week I'm off to the local society for the blind to meet another group for further consultation. The thread that runs through all these groups is compassion and care, humour and honesty - it's honestly been an eye-opening experience, if you can forgive the unintended pun.

It's the first time in a long time (if ever!) that I have felt anything like this about work and my job. I feel valued and listened to and respected for my contribution. It's a good place to be, like really good. I think I finally get it. I have no idea where I'll go to next, hopefully I can still be involved with this project as it takes off (as I know it definitely will). But if not I will never forget this brief time where tumbling down rabbit holes is acceptable, encouraged, and leads to an inspirational wonderland - a place I have definitely never been to before!