As I work on completing the manuscript for my upcoming novel, "The Woods" I realize that I've been 'stuck' trying to navigate life while keeping my creative side intact. Sometimes that may look like creating a space of 'self care' where you are simply diligent about watching out for yourself and ignoring the 'noise' of life going on around you.
For me, it means making pockets of time where I simply tune out everything going on around me...the news, reels, anything appearing in my FYP on any of the social media sites that I navigate on a daily basis.
At one point, life got heavy; so heavy that I couldn't keep up with everything going on around me and it was beyond frustrating. I had to learn to navigate my own personal trauma while simultaneously enduring political turmoil taking up space in places in my home where it wasn't invited.
No TikTok, no Instagram, no Threads, no YouTube, no Lemon8, no FaceBook.
I turned it all off and I have no idea when I'll be going back and when I do, I don't know how I will return. I imagine I will rejoin each application slowly and with intent so that I don't overwhelm myself. When I felt my nervous system screaming at me that it couldn't take anymore, I shut everything down.
But old habits die hard. I was so used to logging into social media that I had no idea how much time I spent on it as some of it was social, some of it was my online ministry which took up a lot of time as I recorded live videos as well as videos to post on TikTok to uplift my fellow man (or woman.)
Admittedly I missed it as well as the time that I spent on it. But I felt that I could breathe again. I could actually work on my manuscript and stand a good chance of meeting my completion date of the end of spring/early summer.
Much of my time was spent seeking work thus coming out of retirement after my subsequent firing from a job that I thought I would be at until I reached the retirement age of 67. I'm currently 64.
But on the upside, I've been able to plant flowers in my front yard, do Chair Tai Chi that supplement my workouts at the gym. I spend time with the hubs and talk about things that are deep and thought provoking. I've been able to complete house projects that I've been putting off.Overall, I'm pretty content so the disconnect was definitely a good if not great decision. It's like taking a vacation after dealing with a demanding job for the better part of a year. You enjoy the time away but know that eventually you'll have to go back to work. Hopefully you'll go back feeling refreshed and ready to rock and roll.
So as I work on completing "The Woods" I work in a space of gratitude because I know that so many people have it far worse than me. And with that knowledge, I keep it moving even if sometimes, the movement is slow. Slow is better than stopping.
So for those of us that choose to create, if you don't know this already, let me tell you personally...keep pushing and keep grinding.
The payoff will be great!
~ J.L. Whitehead
