Taking Care

I did not spend much time on my manuscript at the beginning of the week. This has been a challenging week, for a variety of reasons, and I found myself longing for a place where I could go, lock the door behind me, and yell/cry the anxieties, fears, and self-doubts away. Figuratively anyway. I used to accomplish this in all those paper journals I’ve shared pictures of that line a new shelf in my workspace. But, as I worked through the journey over the last decade or so of figuring out where and which parts of my writing lives in the digital realm vs what still lingers in the paper realm, the paper journal got lost along the way. Realizing that what I was longing for was that safe space I could create in my paper journal, I went searching through that shelf, knowing I had one or two blank ones tossed in the mix from years ago when I always kept one on hand to move into, and lo and behold I found them. Both. I forced myself to sit down every night this week with some of my favorite music from my favorite yoga studio and create that space again. I wrote away my anxieties. I wrote away the unrealistic expectations I was putting on myself. I followed that with my affirmations and my truths. After, I got down on my yoga mat and meditation cushion and took some time to relax. Then it was time to get back to work.

I’ve been working on another connecting chapter and once it is completed, the first act of that story will be complete. There are only a few things to do to the second act and then it will be time to complete the end of the manuscript! I’m closer to completing this manuscript than I realized when I was caught up in the worries of the week. I’m on track to finish this manuscript (manuscript 1) in the next week or so and then it will be time to revise manuscript 2 before the end of the month. NaNoWriMo is lurking in the pages of my planner, impatiently awaiting my attention. I’m excited to get the work on these two manuscripts complete so I can devote October to prepping for NaNoWriMo.

What do you do when you’re caught up in worrying or anxiousness to calm down? What helps you to relax, take a step back, and refocus?

Happy Writing!