A Satisfying Springtime

So it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything, but for once it isn’t because I’ve been sitting around not knowing what to do with myself. Indeed this time, I’ve been busy…

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Some of the things I’ve been busy with aren’t exactly what you’d call interesting. For one, I’ve had a huge problem with damp in my house, (you can poke your finger through the ceiling in one patch, though I wouldn’t recommend it), and it’s been a nightmare to try and get someone to come and look at it. I never want to hear my council’s ‘on hold’ jingle again, or I might actually cry!

But life hasn’t all been damp and dour these past few weeks- I’ve been enjoying some hobbies, and sticking to some of my New Year’s Resolutions. The one I’m most happy about is probably my daily walking goal, because I’ve managed to stick to it every single day for just over a month now. I’ve been doing two walks a day round the village, even when the miserable weather makes me want to curl up inside- which is most days… More often than not, I have waddle out the door in so many layers I look like the Michelin Man, but I’m pleased to say I do it anyway, no matter how funny I look!

The walking has been a doubly good idea though, because it’s allowed me to get back to taking photographs again, even if they’re just brief snaps with my phone to use as ideas for paintings. I try and go out at a slightly different time each day, so that I’ll hopefully see things in different lights. Sometimes a tree that is pretty during the day, might look mysterious at night with the moon in the right place, for example.

And on top of that, I’ve realised what a blessing it is to live by the beach, because frankly, the beach seems to look great no matter the situation. Grey sky? The sea is dark and brooding. Sunny sky? The sand shimmers. Sunset and sunrise? Well, that’s so gorgeous it would bring a tear to the eye! I’m a bit embarrassed to say I used to take the beach for granted and not really spend much time on it despite living only a few minutes walk away, but I’m certainly making up for that now!

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As for other hobbies, I’ve also been getting back into dancing again, which has been a lot of fun. I took a break over Christmas, so I was a bit worried I would have forgotten everything, but upon having a practice I was relieved to find that I’ve still got the moves- at least, a wobbly, awkward version of them. Currently I’m learning ‘Advice’ by Taemin, which is quite hard because of the intense speed, but it’s been so enjoyable to get moving around again, even if I’m just flapping about like an angry fish.

As strange as it is to say, all this fun I’ve been having, all these activities I’ve been able to enjoy, have only been possible because I gave up on one that wasn’t working.

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The last few posts I made were mostly about this big movie review YouTube video I wanted to make, with drawings and home-made ditties to go alongside it. I’ve never been good with time limits, and I’ve never been happy with recording my voice, so when I put those two together, I ended up with an absolute mess of a project that was making me feel stressed. There were a few other problems too, like realising I’d prepared over half of the drawings on the wrong paper or seeing that the footage was too low of a resolution.

That’s not to say it was all bad- I actually liked doing the drawings themselves, and I had an absolute blast making the music, so much so that I’m going to continue doing those things, which is a silver lining. But overall, the project unravelled bit by bit, and the whole voice recording fail was really the last straw.

It’s a rubbish feeling to give up on things- especially when you make these big goals and declarations like I always do. But… even though it’s still really (really) embarrassing to admit it, especially on the internet, I packed it in!

And I must say, I felt so much better after admitting it. I was less stressed, I didn’t feel like there was a looming deadline right in front of me anymore, and most importantly, the time I’d been spending worrying could then be spent on stuff that actually made me feel good. Another one of those things being editing my book, which I’ve been doing a lot of, however, I wanted to save that for its own post…

So although I was a bit stubborn at first, I’ve come to realise that sometimes knowing when to quit or shift your focus elsewhere can be a good thing, even if it’s tough to admit. Plus, to console myself a bit, I like to use the phrase ‘put on the back burner’ rather than quit!

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Photo Prompt!

Here are a few of the pictures I’ve taken around the village recently! The top middle one is my favourite, the moon was really bright that day.

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One More Thing…

Also, another activity I got up to during my break, was a fun interview about writing with E. M. Sherwood Foster https://fosteryourwriting.com/ which she posted over on her page. It was really nice to be asked, and it was interesting to actually sit down and think about some of these things- since I usually just float around without doing much thinking at all… So if you fancy, you can check that out on her page!

Thank you very much for reading!