BEDA always seems to usher in a bunch of lists from me, doesn’t it? It’s easy for me to do when I’m pressed for time, but I feel a little bit disingenuous or lazy or cheap doing it so often.
So I thought I’d offer a really brief check-in, not in list-form. (There will certainly be more list content coming your way, so don’t fret.) That’s right, we’re going to try an old-fashioned stream of consciousness update!Read More »
I leave for China tomorrow (let’s hope I didn’t forget to pack anything) and had originally planned to have all of my posts queued up and ready to go.
… as you could probably surmise from my use of “originally”, this plan has fallen through. I know exactly what posts I wanted to share, too! But a combination of a hectic schedule, episodes of extreme low energy, and poor time management on my part, if I’m being honest, means that it’s not happening. I don’t have weeks worth of blog posts ready before leaving.
Because I don’t know what the Great Firewall situation is with WordPress and the other resources I planned on using to complete these posts is, I am going to tentatively go on hiatus until I come back the second week of January. Fingers crossed I can get some posts up while I’m away, though! If I don’t, I’ll try to up my frequency because it’s that magical time of year where I do my year-end reflections and recaps and new year’s resolutions and those definitely need to get published ASAP.
In the meantime, please have happy holidays and I’ll see you in 2018!
I’m letting myself off the hook a little bit for today’s post as a birthday break and because I’ve been running around a lot as we approach deadlines at work and I try to push to take care of some things for my parents before meeting up with them in China next week!
Can you believe December is halfway through? It’s going to be 2018 before we know it, definitely before I realize how quickly the new year is approaching. I have a few posts planned before we ring in the new year. There’s the New Orleans recap/guide that I’m working on and then my usual trio of end-of-year posts.
December is a crazy and frazzled time for a lot of people as the year draws to a close and the holiday season hits its peak, so please take the time to take care of yourself and your needs. Take breaks, breathe deeply, apply hand lotion and lip balm liberally, sleep in soft pajamas, drink comforting beverages.
What are your favorite self-care/treat yo self things right now? I am enjoying going through as many steps of my skincare routine as I can remember, with a mask at the end to seal it all in, and holding and sipping a hot cup of tea with a small pastry or cookie. (Sometimes this turns into 15 cookies.) I also like going for walks, if it’s not painfully cold, or even just opening a window to let in some fresh air and let out the stale air, and if it’s too cold even for that, I’ll just take my tea to the window and look outside. I don’t have a great view from my window (it faces another building in my complex) but sometimes I see people walking their dogs and sometimes I just get lost watching the wind blow in the trees.
Hi all,
I’m going to be taking a short break in my posting schedule. I’ve been experiencing a pretty low mood for the past 3 weeks and I feel like it is reflected in the poor quality of my posts over here. Plus, I find myself really forcing myself to update twice a week, so to be fair to you and myself, I’m just going to take some time off and try to work on getting my spirits back up.
I do really hate to interrupt my schedule, because the schedule is sort of the only thing that really keeps me consistently posting, but I need to take some time to work on my mental health.
In the meantime, if you want to share anything that usually gets you back in a better mood, please do share! I’m partial to cute animal videos but am open to anything 😀
Thank you for your support and understanding,
Starr
I am just a few days away from being on-schedule for one full calendar year! If you had told me in February of 2016 that I would be posting Tuesday/Friday every week (except for the weeks where I attempted Monday/Thursday) for an entire year, I would’ve laughed because I have never been that regular with blog posting in my long blogging life.
There are a lot of posts I have brewing in my head, and I want to share them with you so badly. There are many more China travel posts, the Europe posts I swear to everything are in my head ready to be put to keyboard soon, more general posts, etc.
But I’m experiencing a bit of burnout.
I’m not sure why. I don’t think work has been particularly stressful or high-pressure. I was with my family for 2 weeks in China before coming back.
And yet, ever since getting back, I’ve felt very off. The simplest way for me to describe it is that I’m mentally exhausted. The current political climate does not help at all, but I just desperately want to turn off my brain. I actually started working out in January, and I think I’ve been throwing myself into that because I can do something that feels productive without thinking much at all. Then I go to work sore, unmotivated, unable to concentrate, unwilling to eat.
Even when I socialize with people, the textbook extrovert I tend to be, I’m only half there. I hear how fake my laugh sounds. Whereas I always have a hard time ending a conversation, I find myself wondering how much longer I can keep one up before I just stop being able to. I feel like it shows in my face, that the conversations are wearing me down from my already worn-down state.
My head hurts often and so does my belly. I’m lethargic and sleepy, and I don’t think it’s just because of how early I’m waking up to work out. I’m breaking out. I’m gaining weight. I’m taking a long time to recover from exercise.
So I will make it to one calendar year, but I will need to take a break after that post. Blogging on schedule has been really great for me and for this blog. NOt only do I have that great aesthetic pattern on my WordPress calendar but it’s good to write twice a week. Nowadays, though, I’ve been scrambling to put together low-quality posts the morning of my deadlines and I hate putting out these bad posts for you. I hate that this has become a burden and not a fun outlet.
I’ll be taking a little break very soon, and I hope I find my way back to normal soon and can finish sharing all the things I was so excited to share with you all just a few weeks ago.
I apologize in advance if post quality continues to be lower over the next few posts, but I hope the break will fix that.
Do you have any tips for burnout?
Also, I really want to stress that it’s important to stay active and woke and call your representatives and remember that you are a part of history regardless of what you do or don’t do but you can help make history if you are active about it. This applies no matter where you fall on the political spectrum, I encourage even those of you whose views differ from mine to stay informed and stay active. I will always defend your right to do so.
Sip of Starrshine 