I’m sitting in a new coffee shop right now, trying to think of what to write. How do I sum up my life lately, in the past five months since I last posted? I’m sure, if there is anyone still reading my posts, they’re wondering why I even bother to blog anymore.

Well, it’s because I still want to write. On this blog. The desire is there. The motivation, though, has been really lacking as of late. I was away for a couple of weeks in August and as for the rest of my time, I have really just talked myself out of it most days. I’m too tired. I’m too drained from writing at work all day. I have nothing to talk about. My life’s become boring. All I do is work, parent and sleep. What do I have to say anymore? You tell yourself all these things enough times and they become a self-fulfilling prophesy. But not a day goes by where I don’t think to myself “I want to write”. I regret that my inability to cope with my stress lately has caused me to abandon the things that once brought me joy, like writing. I want to do better, write better, and BE better.

So here I am again, attempting to catch you up and setting up some intentions for the month of October.

One thing I’m definitely looking forward to this month is Thanksgiving! Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, and this year I’m excited that my parents are coming up to visit for the weekend! They haven’t been up to visit since Lil’ Ziggy was born (though we’ve travelled to see them numerous times), and SO much has changed, needless to say. We’ll be able to show them all the neighbourhoods that are springing back up after they were devastated by wildfire last year. And my parents have never seen Fort McMurray in the fall, which is actually quite nice if you ask me. And I have a new coffee shop to take them to.

So without further ado, here are my October goals that I’ll be working on:

Address some chronic health concerns

I’m lucky that I haven’t been as sick as I was at the beginning of 2017. I have, however, had tonsilitis three times this year so far. Once in January and then twice this summer. It’s to the point now where I don’t really need to go to a doctor to diagnose it. I know what it is. Just give me the penicillin and no one gets hurt. So that’s one of the many reasons why I NEED to address my chronic stress levels. I know that I’m not dealing with it well and it’s taking its toll in many ways.

I also injured my neck in the summer and while the pain seemed to go away for a while, it has come back lately and pretty much stayed there. It’s just stiff all the time and it’s painful for me to do simple things like… check the blind spot in my car. I’ve had some massage therapy which seems to help temporarily with my tense neck and shoulder muscles which are definitely overcompensating for whatever I did. But I think I need to find out if what I did was muscular or if something deeper and more sinister is going on.

And lastly, I need to be more proactive in addressing the plantar fasciitis that I’ve developed this year. It’s causing significant pain in my feet and it’s holding me back from doing more high-impact activities like jogging. And unfortunately I’ve turned it into yet another excuse to not work out at all. Which definitely doesn’t help anything.

Re-Start and finish a hooded cowl

My mom taught me how to crochet when I was a kid, and I’ve made a few scarves but never anything more complicated than that. Then, I saw a really neat pattern for a hooded cowl on Etsy. It’s definitely the most advanced pattern I’ve ever tried, and I had to go to YouTube to learn some of the stitches, but I got a couple of steps into the patten. Then, when we cleaned the condo in preparation for selling, I misplaced my crochet hooks. Huh? How did I misplace my crochet hooks and not the whole thing? Anyway, it’s been a few months and I finally got some new hooks, but I forgot where my place was in the pattern. So I pulled the whole thing apart and will be starting fresh. My goal is to finish the cowl before the end of October, so it’ll be ready when the snow flies.

Publish four blog posts (and yes, this counts as one)

The cool thing is, I’ve already got these four blog posts almost entirely written, so this one will probably be easy. I don’t have the excuse that I don’t have anything to write about because they’re already DONE. Phew! I just have to create some images and I’ll have a post for each week this month! If I can come up with a couple more, that’s just icing on the cake but at least I know I can ease back into regularly posting. It really does feel good to write for myself and feel creative again.

What are some things you’re working on this month?