Create to win

I have no job at present.

All the fish I had have died.

I started Couch to 5K but my ITBS flared up so I can’t run.

I’m behind on my reading challenge for the year.

Just in case anyone was wondering why I’ve been a bit quiet on this blog, and other places, it’s because I’m failing. I predicted this would be a year for failing I just didn’t think it would be this kind.

I like to keep busy, so not working isn’t the best for my mental health, neither is not being involved in anything creative so I’m pushing to fix that in a few ways, one of which being NaNoWriMo which starts in November.

I know. I’m mental.

I just need a few wins.

Written By

Long time blogger, Father of Jack, geek of many things, random photographer and writer of nonsense.

Doing my best to find a balance.

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3 comments

Totally identify with that, dude – I’m absolutely rotten at doing nothing.

Have you got any side projects or new stuff you could be looking at? Or a dev project on something that interests you? (I dunno what would trip your trigger, but Unity looks interesting, and there’s always stuff like Swift for App development to learn and play with)

You know where I be, drop me a line if you want some other ideas, or just a vent.

Lynne says:

I hate it when people jive suggestions. I am about to give suggestions. Feel free to hate.
I hear ya with the job. It is bollocky. If I had a suggestion here I’d be doing it myself.
Aquarium – considered just aquascaping at first? Trying to get live plants to stay alive and the tank looking as natural as possible without fish? When reading a book about aquariums years ago, it was that section that I found most interesting.
Body just does not play ball sometimes. Could try one of those press up/ plank 30 challenges? I WAS doing the push up one until I got sick in about March and I just didn’t start up again. I hated it, but it was genuinely interesting to watch how the body got stronger.
My reading ground to a halt a while back. It isn’t something you can force. Only read what you will enjoy and don’t get annoyed at yourself. This is one thing that I just have to be Zen about. And, personally, graphic novels and comic books have helped a lot.
Thought about volunteering? You did it at the Games, you enjoyed volunteering in hospital radio, you have IT skillz… Thought about going back to hospital radio? Or something where you can be flexible, like website work for a charity, or IT work for a charity shop? Animal shelters are happy if folk walk dogs for them. Volunteering in a fair trade shop helped me significantly when I was out of work over here at first. Just giving me somewhere to be, other than at home, moping, was important.
You’re not going to be down if you don’t complete NaNoWriMo, are you? That is a LOT of words & the dropout rate is massive. I mean, absolutely, by all means do it. But be kind to yourself. Have you thought about writing an article about technical writing and seeing if you can get it published in an academic journal instead? If you don’t get published, well, thousands of academics don’t either, and if you do, yay! ?
I mean, the one ‘positive’ (huh!) about not having a job is doing/trying stuff that you don’t normally have the time for, like night classes and stuff, and if you don’t like it, it isn’t a failure, it is a happy realisation that something is not for you.
I’ll bugger off now.

NaNoWriMo will be a challenge, and like you say I’ll likely fail at that but that’s ok, it’s enough to have something to focus on that I’m interested in.

Part of my current malaise is that I’ve not being doing enough ‘stuff’ whilst I’ve not been working, and this post is a measure of that and an acknowledgement (unwritten I realise) that I need to give myself a kick.

Ta both for the thoughtful comments!

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