Week Two Recap

I have a lot to cover in this recap, so I hope you'll hold on for the ride. I learned a lot more this week than I thought I would, given how productive last week was on the learning front.

First, I learned that I need to consider having "backup" blog posts available in drafts to post on days when (for any reason) I can't write.

This was a problem this week because of a health-related issue. Although I had blog posts planned throughout this week, I wasn't able to write on Monday due to symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. It was a rare day when the pain itself was so immense that I wasn't able to put my hands to the keyboard. I slept through as much of it as I could and otherwise rested.

(I'm better now, which I'll get to toward the end of this post.)

I also missed yesterday's post on Tis the Season for similar reasons: I wasn't able to hold the book I was meant to review in order to read it. (Yes, for those of you who have never experienced it, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome can be that bad!)

It would have helped to have a "backup list" of posts I could publish when these days struck, so this is something I plan to work on over the next month or two. (It will take time to stock pile posts which aren't necessarily timely.)

Second, I learned that using my morning journal as a "complaint catcher" doesn't work for me. Yesterday I decided to follow the guide for writing "Morning Pages" to the letter. I filled up three pages worth of complaints to see how it would affect me mentally. I expected it to do me some good. What I discovered, instead, was a dark cloud that followed me around all day and a loss of mental health. I was anxious, irritable, crabby, and downright nasty to my family all day long.

I'll be writing a longer blog post about this for Monday, but I wanted to make a note of the issue here.

So let's get into the recap.


I'm different this week than I was last week, in a profound way. Not only am I mentally healthier, but I am happier. Apart from an experimental "complain in the journal" day, I've felt calm, happy, and motivated to accomplish things. I feel more like myself than I have in years, and forward momentum is possible because I'm making things happen.

I've learned a lot. Here are a few of the things which have occurred to me this week:
  • Manifesting isn't about waiting for things to happen. It's about making things happen. This isn't news to me. However, I've spent much of the past few years waiting for something to happen, to change, or for somebody else to do things. Now I'm finally up to the task of making the magic happen myself.
  • What I write about, I think about. This one was huge. I'll be going into more detail on Monday (so eager to write this that I might pre-write the post), but the sum of it is that when I write in the mornings, my mind stays on the subjects I've written about. If I write about the tasks I hope to accomplish (and why they are important) I'm more apt to be mindful. If I complain about the bad things in my life, I focus on those. Big news!
  • It's difficult to stay in the holiday spirit year-round. I consider myself a "Yule Person," especially as of this year. However, as time marches toward February 14th, I find myself distracted by Valentine's Day, and following it, St. Paddy's Day. In order to keep up with the work required to make a Yuletide blog work, I'm going to have to stay focused and motivated. This is going to be tougher than I thought.
  • Tarot has a big place in my life, but I'm not qualified to teach it. In a surprising turn of events, I discovered this week that I've not been a great student of the tarot. This gives me a new focus for a blog, should I decide to continue it. The goal would therefore be my personal study as opposed to teaching others how to use the tarot.
  • Magical solutions to mundane problems might work better than I thought. While I identify myself as a pagan witch, I also tend toward skepticism cynicism. I have, therefore, not applied as much magic to mundane problems as I could. This week I picked up hematite to help with wrist and hand pain. I'm no longer having symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (other than some minor pain in my right ring finger).
These were all important lessons that I can take into next week, which I hope will be more productive.

Here's  how this week looks on paper:
As you can see, my productivity was down this week. However, I feel more in control and have had more time to spend engaging with my hobbies. I feel good, overall. Since my goal for this blog is (as much as anything) to provide you with ideas for how to support your own overall mental health, and to manifest the things you want to receive in your life, I believe that I've met that goal halfway.

I did not meet my specific goals for the week (as follows) however. The reasons are expressed above, and I'm sure you'll understand.
  • Daily Journaling (missed Monday due to hand and wrist pain)
  • Daily Reading (read maybe two out of seven days)
  • Daily Tarot Card (a total loss)
  • Daily Blogging (missed Monday and Thursday for health reasons)

Next week will be better. I've got so many ideas that one week can't contain them all, and I look forward to sharing those with you!

What Worked from This Week

  • Journal Indexing - I've been keeping an index in my journal of blog post ideas as I get them. Most days I note at least three ideas for blog posts, and while a few have been related, those could be worked into foundation series for the blog. This has worked incredibly well and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.
  • Ritualizing - Every morning I get up and I sit down in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and my (orange) journal. This has quickly become a ritual. The coffee goes with the journaling. It takes me about an hour to write three pages (if I'm not distracted) and this single hour opens up more time in the rest of the day (I know it sounds odd, but it works!).
  • Hematite Bracelet - I wasn't sure whether I should note this down, but the difference it has made is remarkable. I'm able to write, stitch, paint, whatever I want to do without worrying about how it's going to affect my hands. A very satisfying trick to eliminate the pain of carpal tunnel!
I'd say that this week has mostly been slow. I'm not writing it off as a "dud" but there were several problems that I had to overcome and I'm also recovering from the previous week of busyness. Among other things Dinky is off school today and Monday due to holidays and teacher in-service. It's going to be a while before we're on a "regular" schedule again (maybe after we've moved). I'll have to find a way to make the irregular schedule work for me in the meantime.

Hopefully the list of what worked is longer next week!

What Didn't Work from This Week

  • Pre-Planning - At the beginning of this week I had committed to writing down this week's blog posts in my Erin Condren. I never even started this process. I'm disappointed in myself for not having done so, and frustrated because it ought to be effective. This is something that's going to have to change. I've joined the Pagan Planners group on Facebook and hope to gain some motivation to keep up with this better.
  • Gratitude Journaling - Another thing I committed to but never managed to keep up with. My Rituals for Living Dreambook has sat untouched since the first few days of the year. I'm going to keep trying with this, since I think it's an important tool in my overall magical life.
  • Regular Meals - I've not mentioned this before (though it belongs somewhere on this blog) but one of my worst habits is not keeping up with regular meals. Michelle and I had both planned to eat three regular meals a day, each one prepared for the purpose of maximum nutrition. This has been a total bust, since I'm not always hungry at mealtimes and have trouble forcing myself to eat when I'm not hungry.
  • Social Media - Alright, this one's a bit up and down. I am getting traffic from social media posts, but I'm finding it difficult to keep up with all of the different social media sites. Promotion is more work than writing, and I feel like I'm wasting my time. This has not been a successful social media week. I'm going to have to find a way to do this that works for me.
These are all things that I need to improve, so I'm definitely going to keep trying with them. I'll let you know how next week goes next Friday, but I plan to pull out my Erin Condren tomorrow or Sunday so that I can get those post notes into it. With the journal index, I think I should be able to accomplish this.

My hope is that within six months I'll be able to give you a list of things that are working so well to improve productivity that it's time to write a book on the subject. We'll see how that goes.

What I'll Keep Trying

  • Pre-Planning - I keep failing at this, but I also recognize how helpful it will be once I'm able to get it right. Having a list of topics to write about in a single week helps me to pace out the posts that I'm publishing so that I'm not publishing an entire series in a short span of time.
  • Gratitude Journaling - My Rituals for Living Dreambook makes this easy. There's no reason not to keep up with it other than pure laziness on my part. I carry this book in my purse. If I have to complete it in the car, I can. So why am I not? Laziness, that's all.
  • Social Media - I've reached out to a friend who uses social media to promote her brand in the hopes that she can give me some ideas for staying motivated. My goal is to share each post on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest (for both blogs). Right now that's not happening. It feels like "extra work."
  • Tarot Journaling - This isn't specific to the blogs, but this is something that is important to me. I keep falling away from doing this, and I have determined the reason appears to be fear. It's time to let go of those fears and start doing some shadow work within the tarot. If all works out well, I'll get my tarot blog going again.
Thank you for taking the time to follow and read my blog. I appreciate readers and comments, and hope that I can continue this project in a way that brings some clarity and peace of mind to your life, as well as to mine!

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