Writing Self-Care

My desk space at the moment of writing this blog... and the blog itself in handwritten form!

Some things I did not take into consideration when I decided to become a full-time writer out of the blue…

1)  This may have been an impulsive decision brought on by my self-diagnosed ADHD.  I won’t go too much into this because, as I said, it’s a self-diagnosis; however, you may notice that many of these items are how you manage ADHD.

2)  This is not like one of those regular jobs where you work, work, work, for 8 hours, 5 days a week, and get a paycheck.  This is especially true on the ghost writing gig I picked up for some extra cash.  People have to actually choose your writing over other peoples’ writing.  Let’s face it, my content writing skill needs refinement.  Fine!  Challenge accepted!  However, I still find it impossible to punch a clock on this… well this whole writing thing.  Some tasks I get done faster than I think I will, some take significantly more time, and some turn me into Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole.  Planning my day, like a 9-5 job, does not work!

3)  I have rediscovered BuJo (Bullet Journaling) and, thanks to Pinterest, I have also discovered the Dutch door!  My BuJo is pretty minimalist compared to most of them I find on Pinterest, unless I specifically put “Minimalist BuJo” in the search bar, but it works for me.  I’m not trying to plan every minute of my day, not even every hour, in fact the only indicator of time in my BuJo is the date!  On each day I have two short columns, “Obligations” and “Tasks,” and I check off items as I complete them.  No more time wasted on wondering if I am running on time or trying to adjust my schedule because I am, inevitably, behind schedule.  I pick the task I want to do, get it done, celebrate with a check mark, and move on to the next task.  I take brain breaks when I need them, I get up and move around when I need to, and I eat when I’m hungry!  It’s rather lovely.

4)  Exercise and good food.  My brain does not like functioning properly without both.  The thing about food is I’m on a very tight budget right now, so I can’t afford a variety of things.  Fortunately, I love cooking and baking.  Do you know how many great ideas I come up with while kneading dough for pasta?  Thank goodness for the voice recorder on my phone!  With good food on hand, I’m good to exercise, which clears my head when I’m feeling muddled.  Or it helps me work out some life changing problem, either real or fictional.

5)  Meditation!  Though I’m not sure everyone would call what I do meditation, as I’m not the kind to sit and “Ohm” my way through 10-15 minutes every morning.  Kudos to those who can because that’s harder than running a couple miles!  Basically, I have an affirmation that I focus on, then I do some deep breathing with energy raising, followed by whatever various activities I feel called to do that morning.  I finish my meditation off by deciding what I feel like doing that day.  While this form of planning sounds… ineffective, it’s actually really working for me.  This becomes my checklist that I work on throughout the day.  It’s more task oriented than it sounds and it turns my “have to dos” into “want to dos,” all thanks to that morning meditation where I told myself how much I want to be productive!

6)  Celebrate the victories, big and small.  At the end of each day, I take some time to look at everything I did, and write about what I accomplished.  Next, I reflect on what I was/am grateful for; anything, from someone I talked to that day to an app on my phone to my dog who makes fun of me while I do Yoga.  Lastly, I think about what I had difficulties with throughout the day.  These include any tasks I didn’t get done, negative thoughts, and doubts; these become my lessons.  If I didn’t get everything done I take into consideration why and how I can fix it.  I consider how long I thought tasks would take versus how long they actually took, if I got distracted or had too many tasks listed to begin with, or if I just needed an easy day after playing Superwoman the day before.  Finally, I get to my trackers.  I have a couple habit trackers for when I am building new habits and a mood and productivity tracker, all of which I get to color in.  Done!  Time for bed and my brain is clear and free to drop off into sleep!

7)  Self-care.  This is the ultimate lesson I’ve been learning.  My last job, nursing, was work all the time.  I never had, or took time, for myself.  I was certainly being paid more, but I was never satisfied.  I tried to find satisfaction in working more hours, to make more money, to get more stuff; but it wasn’t satisfying, just exhausting.  My mentality was “Work harder now, suffer now, and later I can afford a break.”  Even when I was trying to balance my life out better, I never took the break.  Perhaps, if I was able to practice better self-care, I would have been able to feel more satisfaction with what I had.

Enough reflection; because, here I am, satisfied with being a starving artist.  I really hope everything continues to come together because this isn’t such a bad way to live.  Wish me luck and tell me about your favorite self-care tasks in the comments below.

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I buzzed my hair off during the stay at home orders since I couldn't go get it done at the salon. I miss my red hair! BTW that's KC my dog, the one that makes fun of me during Yoga!