Questions from Melony Hill’s Writing for My Sanity Therapeutic Writing Workshop (@STMSBmore), held online.
• How can you make your daily life feel easier? Think of your daily morning and after work routine as well as your workday.
I’ve actually already been thinking about this a bit this week. I placed my first online order for groceries this week, which arrives tomorrow.
It’s been snowing and icy here, and nearly all of my outside obligations have been cancelled, and they kids are with their mother this week. So, I don’t really have to leave the house.
I’ve been doing this elaborate process every other week for groceries, bundling up, spraying down grocery carts, and avoiding people in the aisles. And it takes up so much time. From driving to the store, parking, gathering everything, driving home, and then storing everything, it sometimes takes up to 3 hours of my day.
If it goes well, I’m going to try doing it more. If I order more than $35 of food, the delivery is free.
• Do you spend more time being busy or being productive? What’s the difference to you? What does your life look like when you’re being productive?
I have found that purposefully choosing time to relax or exercise has been helpful. With my work, the list of things to do is neverending, because even if I finish my client work, there are mountains of personal projects, artwork, and improvements I could always be making.
So, if I say I want to go out for a walk for the sunset, or watch a TV show before bed, or set aside time to read, it provides a bookend to my working time, and forces me to focus on getting things done in that time.
I haven’t done it in a while, but streaming my design work also helped me to be more productive too, because I would have people watching me. It keeps me from goofing off on social media.
• In what ways are you numbing yourself or checking out of life? Drinking, shopping to excess, using food as comfort? Why do you do it? What could you replace it with?
I don’t think I’ve been checking out enough, honestly. I think that this is one of the reasons my anxiety has been so high lately. I don’t have enough ways to unwind.
I’ve been trying to go out for walks and watching Peaky Blinders, but lately the weather has been cold and wet, and Peaky Blinders is not a very relaxing show (even though it is entertaining).
I think I should go out in my Element more often. I’ve got everything I need to just work in remote locations, so it might be good to change the scenery and just be out in a place to sit and draw.