It's been a while, hasn't it?
I don't think I've ever posted so rarely since I started the blog. I don't have much to say, but today a friend encouraged me to say something anyway.
Shall I tell you about my slump? (This is your opportunity to move on to the next new post in your RSS reader. This won't be pretty.)
I look over my yarn, itching to start something, and then unable to focus on a plan. I get out my camera and realize with every picture I want to take that I already took that picture this time last year. I pick up the current panel on my skirt with every intention of finally reaching completion, but somehow I set it down and it languishes for days, still weeks from being finished. I try to help MonkeyBoy up the ante on his schoolwork in preparation for entering high school next year but I find that we butt heads over the same issues and he makes no noticeable progress. Every day I think I am going to get back into my exercise groove but I have no stamina and end up exhausted and annoyed with myself for my weakness. I've been concocting elaborate Valentine's surprises for my loved ones in my head but have done exactly nothing.
I feel drained, depleted, and completely lacking in inspiration.
So tell me, Dear Readers, how do you handle a slump? What gets you past it? What keeps you from falling in up to your neck?
6 comments:
Cycling the list, yes. I am there. I run circles around myself, with no focus and no ability to actually complete any one job which leaves me feeling completely defeated because I don't get to cross anything off my list (I did get to cross off my closet and the office this week, which feels very very good). Drained. Check. Depleted. Check. Lacking in inspiration? Check. Let me know if you figure this one out...I'm under a looming deadline.
My slump happens in late December/January. I usually just wait it out and it passes--I'm fortunate in that I've never been afraid that it wouldn't. The other thing that helps me is to get out of my routine--take some time away--foolproof for me, and can be done for not that much money.
I'm finding myself in a slump too, and feeling fat and slumpy for it.
When a farmer leaves a field without planting for a year to rest the soil, that field is called fallow. So I call these times my fallow times.
It's a time to take care of myself: take a bath, give myself a pedicure, read a good book, eat terrific food. Get outside in the daylight at least once every day, even just to walk around the yard and see where spring is coming (I have green tips of my crocuses poking through in several spots).
I give myself permission not to judge myself for not progressing: not progressing on projects, on household cleaning and organizing, on goals and dreams, on New Year's resolutions. Sometimes holding steady is good enough!
Um, I generally wander listlessly around my house and feel anxious until I'm so disgusted that I do something, anything.
One thing that has helped is setting the timer and completing a small task. And then, setting a timer and doing another small task. I've got a bunch of them already broken out into little units of time, so I hardly have to think about it. I accomplish something that has a beginning and an end (even if it is only part of a greater whole).
The other thing that helps me is giving myself permission to be. Also, I recognize it -- this restlessness, this ennui -- as a sign that somehow I am not taking care of myself. Then, it is time to feel my feelings, be gentle with myself, wander a little, and trust that I will come back before it all falls apart. Taking time to be grateful also helps me.
You're not the only one! I don't know what it is, but every Feb-March this happens to me also. I find that opening up all of the curtains to let the sunlight stream in really helps, as well as remembering to take my vitamins.
Maybe some journaling would help you also? I've been wanting to make a gratitude list but even that seems daunting right now.
I hope you find your way out of the slump you're in. Previous comments have some really good advice. Thanks for sharing your feelings-- it's always helpful for everyone to know that they're not alone in these types of things.
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