In Shambles

01 Sep, 2023

This past week has been a mix of ups and downs. I started last weekend with a cold - thankfully, not COVID! I tested religiously because I didn't want to be sidelined immediately after returning to a regular routine (after being away from home for about a month).

My symptoms dissipated after the weekend and I felt comfortable returning to work Tuesday - I wasn't leaking from my nose or hacking up a lung¹, and I was able to effectively isolate myself from other people while still interacting with coworkers in person.

But this led to a creative funk at the start of the week that affected other things too - I wrote about it already so I won't go over it again. Suffice it to say that despite getting over my cold it affected me mentally for longer than a weekend.

But I persevered, mostly because I got back to daily journal entries. For most of the summer I got away from daily entries and for the first time in a year I wasn't making the time to write at least a few paragraphs every day. I missed several entries as a result. I got back to it this week, and that helped get me out of said creative funk and got my mind working.

I thought more about the things I want to do - with my writing, my podcasts. I was already thinking about different formats like zines, and a post yesterday from new online friend Veronique led me to read about making zines and I am now more inspired to do so. It also led me to a decision to self-publish my essay anthology.

I have all sorts of things I want to do floating in my head and I need to temper some of those thoughts so I don't get carried away and start something I can't finish, but the fact that these thoughts are there in the first place is encouraging.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you want to write or otherwise be creative, keep a daily journal. It doesn't matter what you write in it, it keeps you sharp.

This entry was written in Notesnook - I found out about it today via Ivysaur's blog.

#creativity