Time to write

It's time to go back to the word craft.

Writing is not only therapy for me, it’s a pleasure. I have always been attracted to playing with words and it always fascinated me how we can transcribe images, smells and feelings onto a piece of paper. I love good brainstorming, a wordplay. Most of the time it leads to good writing ideas. The problem is finding the time to do it.

Working from home has its perks, not gonna lie. But I find myself busier when I work from home than when I go to the office. Breaks aren’t real breaks. If I’m home I will not have what you would call a break. I’m home for god sake! I will find something that needs doing around the house. Whether that is doing an extra load of washing, prepping dinner ahead of time, or even ironing. Mental!

Every day I try - and set the intention in my head that I will as psychologists recommend - sit down at my lunch break and write, even if it’s only a few words. Only something to remind me of a topic I would like to write on later when I have more time will be good enough. But it just doesn’t work. There are just too many REAL distractions around.

Then, when I have great thoughts I fail to write them down (I need to work on that, actually). Many, many good ideas for interesting topics to write about I have missed for not having some sort of easy and quick note-taking system.

I should go old school and just carry a notepad around with me. Since I turned 40 I felt a slight decline in my overall health. Both my brain and my eyes don’t work the same or are as good as they used to be. I’m having to reset it regularly. I had to force myself to focus on MYSELF and I’m in the process of adjusting all my little routines to reduce any friction that could block my writing journey. I have been working on tailoring this journey in such a way that it will allow me to start having more time I enjoy and less that I dread.

Elected my first book of 2022

Admitting that my brain is declining with age was the biggest step. Being a mother and running a house for over fifteen years became so much part of me that I was going through most of my days on autopilot. ON a mind-numbing routine. And trust me, it’s hard to get out of that mindset. I had to force myself to find justifiable enough reasons that this journey was legitimate and that I would not affect anybody else by taking it.

I have started to set calendar reminders so that they prompted me on my phone and my laptop. I’m allocating specific time on my weekly schedule to just stop what I’m doing and ground myself. I need to get out of the carousel every so often to connect with myself on my own. Not having done that over the past years has completely taken a toll on me. I lost my spark, my mojo. And finding myself again has been soooo rewarding! I could not have done it without Gary.