Good Week(s) To Pare Down

Holding on to a Habit

This week and next are training weeks for my new staff. Well, they’re not new - I’m new - because I got a new job! Anyway, the schedule is nuts for our office especially because we are not only training/gearing up for fall but also finishing up the summer. So we’re all kinda doing two jobs right now.

This means my actual second job - the writing one - has to take a back seat for at least this week and probably next as well.

I used to get really stressed out about having to delay or reschedule my writing blocks, especially with the pieces I write for pay. I am a creature of habit. I do enjoy sticking to my regular schedule. It’s so comforting. Conversely, having that schedule interrupted is often jarring. I feel out of sorts like I don’t know what to do next or which way I’m even going. What day is it? Where am I? Who am I?

While I can’t claim that it doesn’t bother me at all these days (I mean, the next paycheck or two for my writing job is going to be super puny), I have adopted a more long-term perspective. Granted, this is much easier now that my pay at my full-time job has increased, as a big part of the stress in previous Augusts was knowing that I was working so much more yet having to take a pay cut because my main job was taking more time and energy. But I remind myself daily that it’s only temporary, and that usually calms me considerably.

Also, I have the end date when everything goes back to (as) normal (as possible) circled and starred on my calendar. Every once in a while I look at it and sigh lovingly. Soon we’ll be together again. Soon.

These are the times when being in the habit of daily journaling would help. When I am consistent about keeping a journal (or morning pages, or wellness check-ins, or whatever you call them), it keeps the creative wing of my mind open and less dusty. Some type of daily practice makes it easier to slip back into the regular habit.

So that’s my advice today (that I’m currently not great at taking myself, but I’m working on it). Even when you don’t have a lot of time for creative pursuits, you probably have a few minutes each day to journal or doodle or sing or do something that keeps those creative thoughts flowing. There may be weeks (months/years) when you only do one creative thing daily, but it keeps you in the habit.