Last month, I wrote about needing rest, and getting a little and realizing how just much more I needed in order to not feel exhausted anymore.
Since then, I’ve been focused on taking it. That four-day weekend over Easter. Two extra days off the following week. Friday afternoon the week after, and again the week after that, and I’m plotting to take another day in the very near future.
I’m finally starting to get a little more energy and willpower back. Hard to say how much of that is from the time off, how much is from having a slower and less stressful month at work (which also means the days off are easier to take), and how much is from the change in seasons…but the difference is noticeable.
It’s not steady progress, for obvious reasons. I still have nights of sleeping poorly, days of exhaustion or or anxiety or despair or rage (we’re still in the throes of the third wave here, thanks in part to a really slow vaccine rollout…). I spent a month trying to write a 300-word flash fiction piece and had to give up when it just wouldn’t gel by deadline.
But…I’m gradually starting to do yoga again, without dropping the near-daily nature walks that have been keeping me sane. I’ve found tiny bits of energy for non-routine “adulting” things like researching and buying a new mattress. (If you’re anything like us, a mattress is one of those things you don’t think about until it starts literally poking you.)
Although I’m still struggling to get my head back into fiction, I’ve surprised myself by writing more poetry (watch for some of it here on TDP again next month!). I’ve also been hanging out on Instagram this whole time, sharing photography and tiny bits of creative non-fiction writing. For a creative like me, that’s been a lifeline.
And my spouse and I are finally getting our first shots this week. I can’t wait.