Greetings and Salutations, Blog Readers!

Today will be a quick update, and honestly it may turn into a daily update weekly blog, because I think I am going to take some pressure off of myself to update this week, and not worry about blog posts. I know I need to post regularly to grow the blog, but, I really also have a lot on my plate and have been rapidly approaching burn out, so I am opting to let myself relax.

Also, I am working on editing Flake City, and honestly, I think I underestimated how much editing takes out of me. I have been rapidly approaching burn out, trying to do a hundred things at once, between editing, KDP projects, blogging, and of course my day job being fairly stressful…honestly, I have been exhausted and not able to give anything the proper attention it needed, so I think I may step back from the blog, a little, at least for a week or two, to recenter my energies. If you have been following the blog or me for a while, you know summer is a harder season than most for me, and I struggle to maintain my energy levels, so I am thinking this will be a great way to recover some of my needed energies.

In other efforts to regain my energies and refocus myself, I have been diving into a video game every gamer I know has suggested I would love, and yes, I do love it, and getting lost in a video game has been so great for my mental health.

Overall, this week is all about focusing on me, recentering my efforts and energy, and getting into a healthy place mentally…basically taking my therapists advice and taking time for me and what I need.

This is day one of that.

Hopefully this inspires you to do the same!

Tuesday:

The feeling of lethargy and exhaustion is still there, but I know there is a path to feeling a little better. Today I am focusing on eating a little better and drinking a good amount of water and rehydrating myself. I did the smallest amount of stretching, but I do hope to get some physical activity back into my routine. I just can’t seem to settle on a good time to do it. I prefer to edit and write on my lunch break, I like to game for my mental health after work, on top of things like showering, extra editing, etc…

The natural answer is, I need to get back to working out in the morning, which I got in a nice habit of doing before getting sick, so I guess I need to get back to that…But when battling depression, getting out of bed earlier than needed is hard.

But, I know I can and should do it. I can put on a Hulu, or Netflix show I enjoy and ride my bike, if I am not feeling up to getting on the treadmill. I think this may be the move, because I could at least mess around on my phone or read a book, something I can’t quite do on the treadmill.

Not sure yet, but I know it has to be put back into my morning routine.

Anyways, I am trying to slowly get back to not in a funk, while also being kind to myself.

It’s a work in process, but I think it is worth the effort. I look forward to playing video games later to reward myself.

More tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Friday:

Well, I didn’t update like I thought I would. Work has been crazy, stress has been adding up, and honestly trying to keep myself from burning out and being self-destructive has taken most of my energy, so while I took a break from the blog, it also turns out that I took a break from even doing daily updates like this.

Hardly an excuse, of course, just more of a statement of fact. I have been playing Minecraft in the evenings after dinner, and using my lunch break to edit Flake City, because I am willing to not work during my lunch if I have Flake City to work on. I know I need to be better about work/life separation but the added pressure I have been feeling makes it hard to do. I value my job, and I push myself harder than I need to. I have been reanalyzing this, because I know I need to work on things I enjoy- work is not all there is.

I had therapy today, so my editing and writing on lunch was cut short, but the therapy was well worth it. I need to get my head straight, so I may go ahead and post this update series as an official announcement to me taking maybe more than this week off. I need to stockpile some blogs, but also take some time for me, and after talking to my therapist, avoiding total burnout is my main goal, because ultimately the self-destructive things I tend to do when burnt out are not something I want to do.

Simple fact is, I need to make sure I am thriving in all ways, and I need another week or two to get back to that place. Next week I will be adding my workouts back in, working out in the morning to save my lunch break for writing and editing, but I think I may need to wait till the week after to add blogging back in. I may do another one of these types of blogs, where I write a little every day, but do better at it than I did this week, in an effort to slowly get back to it, but I want to make sure I don’t push myself.

I know taking weeks off of blogging isn’t ideal for growth, but I would rather miss a few potential followers and instead showcase prioritizing your mental health, because I think this is something we should all consider in our lives.

I sure hope you prioritize your life, your health, and your overall well-being, and if you haven’t, consider this your wake up call/sign to do so.

Thanks for reading,

Abbi