Burnt out and frustrated

Lately, I’ve been feeling a little tired, frustrated and burnt out. At the beginning of the year, I’d set myself the goal to post every day either on this blog or my creative writing blog. I’ve been maintaining this practice and have made a routine of preparing three posts here on Sicily Inside and Out and two other posts on a Babel of Words every week. On Instagram, I’ve been posting every day.
It’s almost halfway through the year, and I’ve kept up my promise to write every day. I only took a couple of weeks off last month because my mother in law passed away.
The result is that I feel like I’m being pulled in many different directions. Writing on my blogs takes my time away from the research behind my next big project, my first novel.
It’s been great to follow up on many smaller ideas and projects, but I feel like I’m trying to do too much.
For now, the danger is creeping up on me to get tired out.
It was as if the universe realised there was this niggling fatigue which was slowly beginning to take me over, so it sent me some messages to help me keep going.
I subscribed to the Farnam Street newsletter, and in their little thoughts section, there were these two pearls of wisdom which I needed to hear.

” The greatest threat to results is boredom and impatience. ”

” The difference between good and excellent results is often found in consistently doing the boring things you know you should do exactly when you feel like doing them the least. ”

So here I am, pushing through my lethargy, taking time to rest and recharge without stopping.

What overwhelmed me was the amount of work I heaped up upon myself. I have pages and pages of blog post ideas and redrafts. So the old procrastination monster stepped in for about a week or so because there was no way I could get all of them done anyway.

But in reality, there is no need to get them all done; as long as I get five posts done a week, one each day is so much easier than dozens all at once. So shifting my mentality and giving myself space to do other things like rest, look after myself and spend time with the family has guaranteed my rejuvenation.

I’ve also started a kind of casual observational type of journal from Sicily with things going on in my life, so I’ll have plenty of more random thoughts to share with you.

I started these blogs to share my thoughts and experiences through my writing. I like to think I’m good with words. It’s the most natural thing for me to sit down at a computer or with a pen and paper. So why would I be so hesitant to do so?

Creativity is inherently generous; art ultimately stagnates if it isn’t shared.

So here’s to sharing my art a little bit at a time.

I hope you enjoy it.