Blog Post No. 518
A friend of mine shared a great concept with me regarding last week’s post about Everyone Being Tired. He put it in a succinct and catchy phrase, too. He said he likes to “Earn the Tired”. While he’s been going through the same fatigue that it seems everyone is, he finds when he’s tired from work (be it physical or otherwise) the next morning doesn’t hit so hard. Not only was it nice to have an conversation based on something I’ve written, his comment made me think about what I’m doing (or not) to earn the tired.
Other than working the day job and (slowly) editing the Invasion Novel, I’m not doing much. Part of that is being one of the last remaining people who’s scared of the still ongoing pandemic (especially with hospitals and emergency rooms so backed up). Since I’m not taking part in the many readings, conventions, or other events, and since I’m really not spending time with friends, I’m mostly coming home from work and letting the fatigue hold me down. I’ve made some small strides in some areas, but I feel like I’m getting farther and farther behind while everyone else is getting back into drive.
There are areas where I could be more active and I’m not. I either blame the inability to go out or some other arbitrary reason, but really, I’m making excuses. I could be coming home from work and getting a little bit of editing done for the Invasion Novel. My reasons for not are vague and unconvincing (like the ongoing fatigue and feeling like I need more time to spend to make editing worth while). Normally, I’d be done the first draft of a novella this time of year and I’d be getting into the rushed edits. While I was able to do that the last two years without having to worry about the day job, the year before that, I managed to work on Broadcast Wasteland every day whether I was busy with other things or not. (P.S. I’m considering finally doing the Behind the Writing post for that book. I’ve been holding off since I’ve sold so few, but I think I should just get it done).
I think only worrying about writing stuff is part of the problem. Maybe if I work on being more physically active again, force myself to swap out another easy episode of a TV show I’ve seen several times before for a book I’ve been meaning to read I’ll earn the tired. If I work on sticking to a schedule for daily routines and other regular responsibilities and take care of them as soon as I get home rather than decompressing with some video games first? Maybe if I work on all of it instead of one thing, they’ll all improve together?
Relaxing is a necessity, but I could have been wallowing in it a bit too much. There was a time at the start of the lock-downs where I had a good daily routine with a small workout. It wasn’t much, but if I remember right, it was helpful. I could be biting off more than I can chew, but I feel like taking a step back and approaching all my responsibilities as a whole will help me tackle them all a little better rather than focusing on one at a time and feeling like I’m always behind.
To some folks, this post could seem like I’m just whining. I get that. I know people who juggle way more than I do in a day and still don’t complain. We’re all different, though, and we all struggle in our own ways. For me, I feel like I had to work all this out, and putting it into words in this post was how I did it. I can’t say that starting tomorrow, I’ll be a changed man, but I’ll be thinking more about how making progress in one area can help out in another. Hopefully, it’ll help me get to the end of this draft of the Invasion Novel so I can start all over again with the next review.
Ben Van Dongen 