I’m not going to waste any time looking back at August. I did okay at my goals. I could have done better, but I could have done worse. I could have written more. I could have exercised more. I did do a large amount of colouring, which is as close as I can get to satisfactorily meditating, so that was good.
I’m trying an experiment in September. I’m not setting goals. I’m going to keep tracking the same things I tracked in August, but with the aim of being able to look back and see what I accomplished, rather than what I didn’t. I have to stop comparing my progress to others’. I have a nasty habit of comparing myself to others, and I need to try to stop that and just do what I can do. I have a lot of things going on and there are only so many hours in the day.
In August, my reading got taken over by a book I had to read for uni, plus all the other readings for my course work, and I think not getting to read fun things that I enjoy has just impacted my mental health overall. You don’t realise how much something like reading really makes you feel better until you can’t do it for a while. The Australian Reading Hour is coming up on September 14, and in the publicity for that, there have been lots of references to how reading for leisure can reduce stress by 68% more than listening to music, going for a walk, or having a cup of tea. Who knew? I didn’t, but it certainly fits in with my experience.
I actually have a feeling that September will be better than August. I was loooking at my calendar for the rest of the semester, and apart from my two final essays being due two days apart, most of my work is spread out fairly okay. A bit of work each weekend and a couple of evenings during the week should see me not going to crazy. And that means I’ll have time for other things I enjoy as well, like reading, writing and blogging.
This month, I want to work some more on Memories and Magic, and I want to do some planning for NaNoWriMo, which I might not officially participate in, but I have a story idea, so why not work towards something? I’ve got lots of books, new and old, to choose from. I’ve got my colouring back log down to just about nothing (I have a colouring day calendar, and I didn’t do much at all for the month of July, so I was behind for a month. But now I’m only about three pages behind) but I also have two colouring books plus a dot-to-dot book if I want more.
Bring it all on, I say!
Emily Wrayburn 