Busy Bee, and Work-Life Balance.

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Hmmm, I wonder when this will get posted lol. It's going to sit in my WordPad document for a bit until I get around to finishing and posting it. It's been a while though, so it's going to be lengthy. Either read it or don't, it's cool with me regardless. :) I use MyLot as a blog so sometimes these posts are just a thought dump. I've been a busy bee as of late. When I say work picked up, I mean WORK PICKED UP. Most of my work is through private clients on Textbroker, and the occasional team orders. I'm so grateful though, but I need to fix my work-life balance. I was actually about to type out the following sentence: "I haven't posted on here or Medium.com in a while, and I've barely posted on my NKOTB Blog, so you know I'm busy. I haven't even played Animal Crossing in weeks." Whoa, that's not okay, especially when part of improving my mental health is maintaining a work-life balance. Granted, my writing orders DO help with my mental health, but I still want to maintain a work-life balance. I usually take weekends off, and sometimes I start my work later on weekdays, so I'm working in the evening, and it's not a morning-to-night thing, but I haven't even gotten around to updating a blog for my favorite band (other than Thursday, as it was Donnie Wahlberg's birthday) or playing one of my favorite video games in several weeks. I need to fix that so I have more downtime for MYSELF. So, I can always take the mornings to myself because I tend to get a later start anyway. But my productivity has sort of flipped, and I feel more productive earlier in the day than later in the evening, so I'd rather work earlier and then have the evenings to wind down. It's also about my priorities. Of course, meeting my deadlines is a priority, but again, I need to make some non-work things my priority as well. Luckily, this has only been going on for a few weeks, so I can still fix it. Okay, back to the topic of my writing orders, sort of... I'm going to be working with a project manager on Textbroker for a short-term (as of now, but that could change) project. I need to submit the orders between 11am and 4pm EST (my time zone). Honestly, I think this could be a good thing for me. Most of you know that I've had an ongoing issue with time management (clearly, as it's after midnight and I'm still working). It's a struggle between my focus shifting and the fact that I don't have a boss over my shoulder. I need to get these orders in by a certain time, so this forces me to set "work hours." I've tried to do that before, but I've strayed away from it, but I cannot do that this time, especially if I want to continue with this project should it go long-term. So I know my butt needs to be in this chair and ready to go by 11am, earlier if I want to take care of other things. I do have other orders with regular clients, but those deadlines are usually a few days, so I'm thinking I can take a short break, and then work on my other orders for the day. If this project continues (for me or in general) next month, then I'll have my groove. If it doesn't, then I'm already used to my new writing hours, and I can continue to set those hours. Like, I can tell myself "I'll work 11am-4pm, take a break, and then work 5/5:30pm-7:30/8pm." I'm going to also try to get up a little earlier so that I can just chill before it's time to work. I might decide to watch an episode or two of "Full House", play "Animal Crossing", or write in my journal. I might want to update on here, Medium, or my NKOTB blog. Just a little "me" time before work, during my little break, and then in the evening before winding down. Now that I'm writing that out, I feel that sounds like a great idea. :) Now, this is going to be a struggle, but I'll make it work at my pace, as long as I'm working by 11am. And this will all be worth it when it's time to buy NKOTB tickets for their 2024 tour, go on autumn outings (i.e., pumpkin patches and farmers markets), or Christmas shop. It's also worth it to continue to watch my "Rainy Day Fund" grow. Oh, I wanted to add, I'm also going to be heading to the local coffee shop on some days, depending on my schedule, my anxiety, and the weather. I did it on Wednesday and really enjoyed it. It's fewer distractions (plus I wear my headphones while I'm working), I'm out of the house, and it's a change of scenery. The people there are really nice and don't care if I'm there for a few hours. I'll always try to order something, even if it's bottled water, because they're a small business so I want to help. One more thing, I'm very behind on my comments from July and August, so please don't be shocked if you eventually get some late comments from me on my posts. Okay, I've rambled enough, but clearly, I'm making up for lost time lol. I'm going to finish up this order and hit the hay. You all have a great weekend and take care. :) Photo Credit: Pixabay.