[GC Insider] The Worst Two Months Of My Life
The end of month summary where I share the good, the bad and the ugly of my creative activities
Yesterday, I went to London. I had to visit the apartment that I am selling and then I met my friends for dinner, after which we went to see Grease, the musical.
In spite of the fact that I used to live in Central London and it used to be my city, I felt like a country bumpkin going to town, who didn’t belong there.
Because of my fatigue, my world has shrunk very small. I have spent much of the last two months getting worse not better, my confidence in how far I can walk and what I can physically cope with has plummeted and I really haven’t done very much.
I got a taxi from the station to the apartment but then decided that I could manage getting the tube into the West End. I was like a wide-eyed frightened bunny, unsure of how I would cope with the hustle of bustle of public transport and whether the walk the other end would be beyond me.
Thankfully I made it slowly, but okay. It was fantastic to meet up with some friends and have a face-to-face conversation with someone other than my Mum and my husband.
Grease was a lot of fun. I was 12 when the movie came out. I know all the words to the songs and back in the day I had a whole wall of John Travolta posters in my bedroom.
On the way home it struck me just how horrible the last two months have been. I can safely say it has been the worst two months of my life. Thankfully I am now getting better, I coped really well with yesterday and today there are no ill effects of over-doing it. Hurrah!
So now I just have to get out more. Although I still need to proceed gently and be kind to myself, I need to extend my world. I need to have fun. I need to create experiences that give me energy not diminish it.
Writing-wise, the only thing I have done is Monday Encouragement and my weekly Friday article. However, I’m really proud of this achievement.
Whilst the last two months have been painful and tortuous, they have also provided me with some profound realisations which I have been able to pour into my writing. I really feel that I have touched hearts. This is reflected in the number of comments and dialogues within the comments. I can see that my role as the Gentle Creative does create value and I have a worthwhile take on the writing life.
I’ve also got the production of the Friday article down to a fine art. On Tuesday I spend between 30 and 60 minutes drafting it. On Wednesday I spend an hour knocking it into shape and on Thursday I do final edits and then find the image, tweak the headline and post it on Substack. Having honed the routine to get the Friday article done, this should help as I slowly integrate other writing activities back into my life.
Over the next couple of weeks, I have some building work going on in my London apartment and I am still waiting for my buyer to have her mortgage approved. Hopefully that will happen soon and then I can finally be shot of it. When the sale goes through it will make an enormous difference to me as it has been a huge emotional burden. A large dollop of money in my bank account will also be very welcome. Somehow, I think this will help with my energy too as I know that there are psychological aspects to my fatigue.
It feels like there a last final push with the apartment and then I will be freer and can re-group. I want to do more to market Gentle Creative. It has been fantastic that I have been able to produce a weekly article but I have had to park all other offers of guest posting and podcast interviews. I’d love to get back to this and grow the newsletter. Soon!
Take care of yourselves
Plodding gently
Cali x
[GC Insider] The Worst Two Months Of My Life
I love your candor and comfort in sharing your vulnerabilities, fears and...accomplishments! Be as gentle on yourself as your words are to your readers.
Sending lots of love from Mumbai