Middle of January
It’s been some time since my last blog post because I caught a pretty bad cold last week and I’m still feeling a little sick. So not much has happened in the last two weeks besides a lot of sleeping and resting to help me recover. I’ve also decided to move to a biweekly cadence for my blog post because things have been moving a little bit more slowly, which is intentional, compared to the end of last year.
In my last post, I focused on the habits I wanted to build for the new year, and getting sick didn’t really help with giving me the energy or focus to work on those habits, but I’m still trying. I do feel a little discouraged since I had to take a break on some things like trying to adjust my sleep schedule and exercising everyday. I am trying to remind myself that progress isn’t linear and sometimes things need to go backwards before moving forwards again. Plus, I can’t really control that I’ve gotten sick and need time to recover (I’ve been sleeping 12+ hours each day last week), so I’m trying to be compassionate and patient with myself as I continue to work through this cold.
Here’s my update of the last two weeks:
What I’m working:
I’m slowly making progress on the 9” embroidery hoop. It’s really daunting and I’m trying to just enjoy the process and not rush to finish it because I’ve got a long way to go.
I finished my knit sweater right before sickness took over!
I started painting a commissioned painting that I had sketched out but was dragging my feet to start painting, probably out of fear that I would do a bad job. It’s turned out pretty good so far, but painting has been on hold since I’ve gotten sick.
Inputs
I read The Practicing Mind by Thomas M. Sterner, which is a short book about being more present and mindful during the process of achieving a goal, to the point where the process/practice is the goal itself to alleviate the stress and burden of trying to achieve a goal in a set amount of time. This is something I’ve constantly struggled with because I want things to be done, which creates stress, and then I don’t enjoy what I’m doing. So I want to work on changing my mindset about working towards my goals and being present for the process and striving to focus on doing something instead of achieving something.
Outputs
I went up to SF a few times the week before I got sick (which is probably where I got sick 🙁) to see friends and I ended up visiting the de Young Museum for a free admission Saturday. It was all very enjoyable, but there’s definitely something going around, evident from the empty medicine shelves.
I’m hoping to go to Death Valley next week. I had originally planned this trip earlier this month and I hope that I feel well enough for the short trip.
