This started out as a brief post on the blog’s Facebook page, but I ended up writing way too much (Me? Write too much? Shocking!). So this has the writing style that I use in online chats more than the way I like cleaning up proper blog posts, but hey – how often do I post at all lately?
The past year has been definitely weird and for many, terrible. I’ve been fortunate. Here are some things that are better for me in Feb 2021 than in 2020:
Productivity: My online business has been developing much faster, both in knowledge and practice. I only get more efficient as time goes on (often I have no choice!). I’m more organized than ever before, I’ve got shelves, drawers, labels. I’m selling a much wider variety of items, trying to be careful not to rely on any one item – or one marketplace. My programming skills have also developed to allow for better automation.
Socially: Like everyone else, there are things I miss about social gatherings of course. But COVID has forced the world around me to find methods of communication that are more compatible with my shittier days. I don’t have to risk compromising the week’s energy quota to spend time with friends. More importantly though, some friends have told me that I provided some happy moments during unhappy times. It’s been a very digital year, so I thought people would appreciate getting something physical in their mailboxes. I would know, trading mail with bands did the same for me in my teens.
Hobbies: I didn’t realize how burnt out I was with certain things until COVID forced me to take a break. The main thing is music, I didn’t touch any instruments for a solid 7 months and didn’t miss it. I started doing open mics around August 2015 and continued pretty much weekly until the end. I did slow down towards the end, but I went a solid 3 years going balls to the wall every week. I really did everything I could with it. Combine that with a few projects that turned into headaches due to people being unreliable and I needed time away. I’ve recovered a bit, but even now.. basically I’ve figured out what my thing is, and that’s getting reactions out of people. It doesn’t matter if I do that with music, comedy, or witty banter – I need to switch things up sometimes. I am enjoying the hell out of listening to music again though, that won’t change.
Health: Physically I’m worse off than I was a year ago, no question about it. That’s to be expected when you stop being active and go back to being a bed potato, though. That’ll sort itself out though, and it was necessary to learn some important things and for perspective. I wasn’t realizing how much certain things were taking out of me until I didn’t have to do them anymore. For example, running the video at the open mic earned me 3-4h of pay. It’s not that simple for me though. I might be on the job for 4h but the amount of energy drained out of me could be much more. I never knew how I’d be feeling come Thursday evening, either. Some weeks I showed up feeling social and enthusiastic, but many weeks it was like carrying a boulder up a staircase. It’s why finding work with flexible hours is so important.
I am about to make some important improvements to my health in the physical sense, and these are things that’ll be much easier to get done with the world still on hold. Depending on what’s involved, figuring out the right ways to raise the bar may make me feel worse off before turning for the better or may require me to spend as much time as possible resting up. Unlike during my experimentations in 2015-2018 where I had to try and juggle the role of mad scientist, experimental subject, and fully-functioning human being, this time I can just focus on the task at hand.
I guess in the end this turned out to be a lot of words just to tell you what you already knew – I only move in one direction, and move at full blast.
Besides… even if I made no further progress, I’d still be looking forward to tomorrow.
Because I get better looking every day.
Shaking Off the Chains 