No, I am not dead.
Sorry. Writer's block is a jerk.
Uh, sorry.
The last time I posted here was in March. I was going through a depressive episode. I got through that pretty well. As I’ve mentioned, medication is a life-saver. Plus, having an exercise lifestyle helped me get through things relatively okay.
Things have been a bit chaotic. I don’t want to get into that now. But I have kept my fitness practice established through most of it.
As I’ve mentioned before, I work from home permanently. And many days, I go from being Office Worker John to Chef John to Dad to Dead Parrot to 4 a.m. Workout Warrior at 4 a.m.
With the small gaps of free time, writing isn’t the most attractive option.
It doesn’t help that I have a serious weakness: Overthinking.
A depressive? Who overthinks?!
OMG.
Wow.
What a concept.
When that comes to writing, though…it can be a creativity killer. I overthink what I should write. I gather up notes, an outline, and think about how my article should be constructed. I think through this so much that I keep thinking about it. And then, it never gets written.
I’ll tell you what my mediocre opus entails: Supplements. I wanted it to be the perfect John J. O’Sullivan supplements article. I want all the scientific knowledge to provide to you. And then I overthink. And then I had a mild system crash. And it still sits there unfinished.
Here’s the funny hypocritical bit: My philosophy regarding exercise is simple: Don’t start off trying to run eight miles a day. Not only will you not run eight miles a day, you’ll never want to continue.
One would think that I would extend that philosophy to my writing. One would be wrong.
So, in the spirit of accountability, here’s what I’m thinking. I beg of you to keep me honest to this. Please.
I’m going to try to write at least weekly. It may or may not be a longer article. It may just be something that amused me during my exercises. It might be a beautiful sunrise picture. It might be a dick joke. But it will be something weekly.
I figure if I can continue that type of pattern, it should be relatively sustainable. I figure that I can build on that and write on more interesting and complex subjects. But first things first.
When I started this bodily reclamation process two years ago, this was how I did things. Now that I’m trying to regain my writing abilities, it seems like a good habit to attempt develop. “Thirty days to develop a habit. Ninety days to develop a lifestyle.”
That philosophy works. Here’s another embarrassing before/after pic:
If I can transform my body radically, I can write a stupid article at least once a week. Please spot me.