Skip to main content

Pressure Relief

Due to various stressers I have been struggling with writing for the last six months or so, and (not for the first time) considered giving it up. My partner is almost ready to retire, and financially speaking neither of us really need to work any more. The state of the world has been hard for me to deal with, and my health issues and depressing empty-nest home life haven't helped. I like to work, and there will never come a time when I give up writing entirely, but the temptation to stop writing for a living has been strong. Here's what I discovered while wrestling with all that:

Writing stories for myself helps. I've always written stories I've never shared with anyone, but I got away from that when I went freelance. Lately I've written about a dozen short stories; I'm currently working on a for-fun novel that I'm writing a page or two a day.

I can't write well or happily without dogs in my life. This kind of surprised me, but I now realize that ever since we lost Cole and Skye I've been creatively lost, too. Now that we have the puppies I can see the difference it makes with my mood and inspiration and productivity.

I've let too many toxic family members get between me and the page. I'm done with them, so that's over now, but it was a long, drawn-out painful process of letting go.

I've become more forgiving of myself. This ties in with the self-love quest I've been on for a while now; I no longer beat myself up so much for being imperfect and unable to do everything that is expected of me. I'm still working on this, but I'm making good progress.

Focusing more on being happy than hurt is the primary pressure relief. Wallowing in pain feeds depression; reaching for light doesn't.

Labels:

Comments

nightsmusic said…
A puppy is the joy your heart needs. I'm glad you're double dosed. ;)
August 17, 2021 at 4:38 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holiday Prep

For Thanksgiving this year we've invited some guests from Oliver's mom's side of the family, so I have to start prepping now to get the house in shape for the big day. The first major thing is having the carpets cleaned, which we've scheduled for next week. This weekend I'll be cleaning out four rooms to get them ready for that. I started with my front dining room, which I use as my sewing room. It was kind of a mess already, so it felt good to get everything cleared out. We'll be having ten people at dinner plus two babies, so this will give me a chance to figure out how to arrange two tables in this space. I think this will be my last time hosting a big Thanksgiving gathering. Mike has started his family with a lovely girl who has a huge, close-knit family of her own, while Katherine will likely be off at grad school out of state for the next several years. I'm also not getting any younger. My guy and I will always celebrate Thanksgiving, but ...
6 comments
Read more

T-minus Day

This was our little Thanksgiving dinner last year, when it was just the three of us. Time keeps whittling down my favorite holiday; this year it will be just me and my guy, and we likely won't even have a turkey.* That will be a first in 35 years. I feel about Thanksgiving the way other people do about Christmas, and while it's a lot of work it's my favorite holiday. Of all the Thanksgivings I've had in the past sixty years, only three were truly terrible: one when I was a kid that I don't talk about (#1 most miserable); the time I roasted two turkeys together and hosted fifteen people whom I cooked for and served with zero help (the largest and #2 most miserable); and the one I spent in basic training (the #3 most miserable.) I have no pictures of any of those, thank heavens. In addition to doing all the cooking I'm the one who takes all the pictures, washes all the dishes and puts away all the leftovers. I suppose no one else cares because to them it...
5 comments
Read more

Fell Off the Wagon

I did cut up that plastic dollar tote to make into something stronger, but got caught up with work and set it aside. Then last night some hand-dyed silk and pretty threads called my name, and, well . . . Felt SO good to do some handwork, except my neck began hurting about an hour into it. I tried changing the way I sit and work, but it's pretty obvious that the doc is right.
7 comments
Read more