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The Mental Drain of Big Projects
When I started this #DigitalDetox thing, I knew that I would learn a few things about myself that I never knew. Or maybe I did know them, but just didn’t recognize them for what they were. But I this week’s discovery explained so many things about the past that I had never put together before.
After completing a big project, I’m mentally and physically zonked—zapped of energy—and the fiction writing becomes a struggle. In fact, anything creative, including coloring-in pictures, becomes a struggle.
So, it probably won’t be a surprise to anyone to discover that this week is yet another #DigitalDetox redo.
Advice out of the mouths of babes
Some years ago, my daughter and I were having a conversation about what it was she would like to do for the coming year. She’s a dancer, and at the time, she was interested in the idea of turning her dancing into a career. She was only 13 at the time, but even then, she knew that if she wanted to go professional, she was going to have to work hard to be the best she could be—and some.
The performing arts are just as competitive as the publishing industry, if not more so.
Anyway, I had received an email from her dance school about auditions for a competition dance team. She had never been part of a competition team, but she was being invited specifically to audition. When I asked her if she was interested, she hummed and hawed for a bit, then she said something that hit a little closer to home than she realized.
“I’m never going to make it if I don’t take a risk and put myself out there.”
BAM! The fist hit me in the gut, and she never lifted a finger. She was talking about her own dreams and her own aspirations, yet her words carried a message that was powerful.
#DigitalDetox Challenges 7 and 8: I didn’t know about that app…
For the past week, I’ve been working on two different #DigitalDetox challenges: write a poem and try a new food.
While writing a poem was a challenge, trying a new food was not. I seem to try new foods almost on a weekly basis, anyway. Yes, I have my favorites, and yes, I can be a creature of habit, but we’re talking about food here. I love exploring new flavors.
So, while the “try a new food” challenge was in a way instinct and already built into my psyche, I did have to work at writing a poem. And while doing so, I discovered an app that I didn’t know that existed on my phone.
The #DigitalDetox Poem
#DigitalDetox number 7 was to write a poem. I’ll detail my feelings about how the week went with this challenge in another post, but for the moment, I thought I would share with you the poem that was created.
It’s not a masterpiece by no stretch of the word, but it’s not a disaster either. However, there was a theme to it that sort of shows where my mental mindset is at the moment.
It was written while I was driving, using the dictation app that I discovered on my phone.
Enjoy.
Time Management and Procrastination
It happens to the best of us at times. We know what it is that we need to get done, but…
“Oh, look… Something shiny!”
Writers joke about this ALL THE TIME, because we all do it. We get to a certain point within our manuscripts and that shiny, new idea calls to us, distracting us. But sometimes, this phenomenon happens in our everyday lives, too.
That’s what happened to me this week. I found myself procrastinating in a big way, avoiding all the tasks that I was meant to be doing.
I know it. I recognize it. I own it. It is what it is.
But for the #DigitalDetox challenge, that means a repeat for the week. But I’ve taken a sneak peak at the challenge ahead, and I can easily fit that one in too, and the only reason I say this… It’s try a new food.
Seriously, a challenge with trying a new food is going to be so easy! I love eating. And I love exploring the different foods out there. I do it ALL THE TIME! So, I’ve elected to twist it, doing something that I already do, but pushing myself.
#DigitalDetox Challenge 6: Walk up a hill
I’m not going to lie: I was nervous about this one. I was really looking forward to it, but I wasn’t certain if my knee was going to hold out long enough for me to complete it.
Well…
I was sore the next day, that’s for sure, but I did it and it felt good. It gives me hope that my husband and I might be able to return to a joint passion — at least in some capacity.
Let me give you some of the history.