Mental Decluttering Continued:

Ok, when I work on decluttering my house the first thing I do is sit down and make a list of everything I know is wrong and everything I hope to accomplish and then translate that into an actionable list and figure out what to tackle first.

 

Stress: My general stress levels are low. Much lower than when I’ve been checking Twitter. In fact I’m not even stressed about missing stuff on there at this point. I’m missing people, but I don’t have that disconnected from reality stress I’d have if I wasn’t checking Twitter every few hours.

Job: Good, but I don’t feel like I’m getting enough done.

Marriage: Super good, focusing on good things we do for each other and making lots of joint improvement toward household goals.

Writing: Overall: Good. Seems like I have too many unfinished short stories. Still can’t bring myself to finish novel project that is 90% drafted.

Physical Health: Dealing with a lot of low level pain in my back and hands. Allergy season is about to hit me hard. Would like to have the scale going downward rather than up.

Mental Health: I am happy. I’m probably the happiest I’ve been in years and years.

Worries: I’m… y’know, I’m not that worried about stuff. I feel like I’m starting to get a handle on things and moving my behavior toward where I want it, even if I’m not there yet.

Guilt: Feel guilty for not reading enough, not being totally current on fiction publications. Not writing enough. Not being on top of everything on my lists. House projects are still undone. Simple planting and gardening things have been taking me over a week.

Fears: I fear I’m running out of time. That’s both within my Twitter hiatus and in life in general. This is probably my greatest fear and one I will never get rid of. I must embrace it and realize it will help me motivate and push me forward as much as it pulls me down. It is most of the time, a neutrally buoyant fear and I should strive for balance with it rather than overcoming it.

Actionable Items:

• -make doctor’s appointment to talk about health stuff (did this)
• -work on daily exercises and behaviors that can help health stuff or at least pain symptoms (doing this)
• -pay attention to what I’m eating and how it makes me feel
• -be proactive about allergy medications, take all of the extra ones right now. (add this to HabitRPG, self)
• -carry asthma inhaler at all times (should probably refill it too)
• -list all unfinished short stories and outline what I know comes next in each story and see which are most easily finished (did this with surprising results. Should blog more about this later)
• -Keep Blogging. Daily blogging really seems to be helping my mental state and general mental clutter.
• -keep going through fiction podcasts while working on household stuff, as that’s a good way to multi-task and get some “reading” done, and I’m not
• -A full return to Twitter seems unwise. Limiting time and cutting back my following list seems to be a good idea once this exercise is over.
• -Forgive myself for what is undone. Things are progressing. If I keep moving forward with household projects, my general to-do progress, and writing, THINGS WILL GET DONE.