Hello Everyone,
It’s been a good four weeks since my last update when I wrote out a schedule I would follow for my articles. It’s been working quite well so far and far more manageable than my previous schedule where I tried to do a book review a week. I think it is definitely doable, however a book review a week doesn’t leave a lot of time or flexibility for other important tasks during the week. In my case, I had a hard time concentrating and focusing on the task at hand.
Part of the problem, at least upon reflection, is that I’ve lost a lot of the discipline and motivation I had before the pandemic. I’m not quite sure what had happened, what had cause me to struggle to read, write and draw on a regular basis like I once did. It feels like I gradually lost those aspects of myself over the last two years. It’s even crazier to think that it’s been two years now! Personally I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been changed as a result of the pandemic.
But while I don’t think I can ever get back to being the person I was two years ago, I can at least work towards becoming someone who can focus on my goals once again. It doesn’t feel right to call it burnout when it feels like I’ve been like this for a whole year. Part of what has been helping was focusing on my physical health while also trying to improve my mental health as well. I’ve been trying to make sure I at least “touch grass” as people would say. I never realized how much time I spent cooped up inside during the past two years.
I keep mentioning how two years have passed and part of what has made that hit harder for me is realizing that I’m coming up to the five year anniversary of my first book, The Legend of Nariko: The Mark of Silverfrost. It’s crazy to think it’s been five years since I published that book which I feel was one of the most important moments of my life. Now that Amazing publishing has hard cover book printing, I thought that creating a special hard cover anniversary edition of the book would be a nice way to celebrate. The idea has given me a new sense of motivation to work towards this goal but also a sense of anxiety. I want to be able to achieve this important goal, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to hit that goal because of the lack of discipline I now have. I hope I can do it.
I hope that what I’ve been able to provide through my reviews and my thoughts on writing have been informative and useful. One of my goals this year is consistency and progress which I’m hoping to achieve this year and get back on track writing more stories.
Thank you all for taking the time to read my articles and following this blog. It really does mean a lot to me!
– Raphael
Raph's Cozy Musings 