Another Sunday.
With the colder winter days no in full effect I tend to stay indoors. I really want to keep going out to take photos but it’s fairly cold (to me) before sunrise.
My desk is an absolute mess. I have a variety of things ranging from my safety razor, marker pens (the kind that highlights), camera bodies and lenses. Sometimes my desk is a testament to my mind – fragmented and scattered.
I guess I’m writing this, which you might not care about, to get back into the groove of writing. Looking back through my post history at last year I was a lot more active on my website. April and May had a lot of posts. Not daily but a steady stream which fostered the habit. Anyone working a full time job while trying to maintain a ‘full time’ writing and photography habit can probably related to this.
What’s your recipe for getting past the problem of not writing enough or taking enough photos?
I find myself distracted by all the bells and whistles lying around. I find myself drawn to too many things. YouTube, Pinterest. I suspect that a few years ago, when I started my Substack my mind was more directed to writing. It still is because writing is a key part of my life but now, I’m not sure, there are a lot of things occupying my mind.
This might be a sign of becoming a bit older. At 41 your thoughts on life ahead is different than at 43. Two years one might say but in two years plenty can happen. I lost my job. I lost my mother. These things tend to weigh on one. In the capitalist driven world we inhabit being unemployed is always a detriment. Rising cost of living. Fuel, food, electricity. Losing a parent is something indescribable. Anyone who has been through it can agree. It leaves a place in your life which you can’t fill – no matter how many good memories and keepsakes one holds onto.
What ‘saves’ these days for me?
I often emerge from these days when I do something routine and mundane. But when I do it I do it as if it is the only thing there is at that moment. As if it is the only thing that matters. On a Sunday it’s shaving. Taking off the old stubble from the weekend and getting ready for Monday.
I know Mondays are difficult. I’ve always disliked Mondays. But with this routine in mind, and others like it I tend to navigate my way through the weekly chaos which arises.
This post might seem a bit weird and perhaps it doesn’t even makes sense but at least it’s out on paper. Out of my mind, leaving space for another routine to combat the mundane.
Thanks for reading : )
PS: Music also gets me out of these funks.