Weekly Update: Staying Consistent Through Adversity

Sometimes life doesn't go as planned and you're forced to choose what gets done.

I am a STRONG believer in getting the IMPORTANT done over the urgent. That said, as two of my friends like to say, you only have so many "spoons" you can hold in a day.

This is my usual schedule: Write 2 hours (or more, Muse-depending) on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. By aiming to write 2 hours on these 4-5 days, I ensure that I usually write for that amount of time AT LEAST three of those days, if not four. And when life is being kind, all five. Tuesday and Thursdays are my long days at the gym, so I usually edit/beta read for others/ignore writing completely on those days to focus on my career as a personal trainer (I also do this on almost every day of the week as well, even weekends, because... that's an entrepreneur for you, but I'm talking super-specific stuff).

This week, given that my second elderly cat was diagnosed with a fatal disease after an emergency trip to the ER late Sunday night (why do these things always happen on the weekend?!), my middle cat has such high anxiety that he's caused himself to have a UTI, AND that three of them (...I have five cats...) have eosinophilic glanunomas on their lips... So Jynx (15) has IMHA. Kota (15) has congestive heart failure. Oswald/Ozzy (6) has high anxiety and a UTI. The twins, Romeo and Tybalt (2) have eosinophilic glanunomas, and Romeo might have asthma.... Needless to say, I've been a bit frazzled to say the least. 

It is now Thursday and I haven't written a lick.

But what I HAVE done is this:

Monday: Busy-work while fretty about Kota until I could pick her up from the ER. Get her, love on her, cry a little, eat, and pass the spells out (hint: that was a curse from my book ;) Just a sneak peek)

Tuesday: Work, edit the chapter I wrote on Sunday

Wednesday: Celebrated with my sister Karyn and her girlfriend Chelsea for Chelsea's birthday and watched Chelsea play (she's the singer and bass player for Wonderland, a local cover band that's awesome). This was just a fun day, but given the events of the weekend with the cats, I'm exhausted and tired, and being gone ALL day from 10a to 10p, gallivanting around, was emotionally exhausting. That said, I live an hour away from them, so ON THE DRIVE, I contemplated my book, the plot, how it was going to go when I next could sit and write. So it was not wasted. Any writer knows that this thought process is a VITAL part to the actual writing portion of creating a story.

Today/Thursday: Working all day with a bigger lunch break (was able to go see Kota on lunch Tuesday and will again today!). On lunch, I intend to write my work's newsletter and begin the next chapter of my book (and eat, of course... there is that). Won't be able to get much of the book done today, because C-FIT takes priority right now (can't ignore the job and got to pay the bills, and I'm blessed to love what I do!). That said, I'm still thinking on it, and I'll be prepping it for tomorrow.

PLAN for tomorrow/Friday (God willing): Write for 2+ hours after I work in the am, take care of the house and my cats, maybe do some laundry (I hate laundry). I usually have a Bible study Friday mornings at 10a, but during the summer, we're doing an every-other-week fellowship, and while I want to go, I'll take advantage of not missing a Study and rest at home.

Saturday I have an event, the Terrain Race in Virginia Beach, so I'll be gone the first half of the day, but I intend to write for 2 hours after I get home.

Sunday, I have church (because you ALWAYS need Jesus, ESPECIALLY when life is crazy; ignoring Him is like trying to breathe without inhaling), and I will either be writing before or after, but I WILL be writing Sunday to countermand the fact that I didn't write Monday or Wednesday this week.

And that's the plan. God is good, He's been carrying me through this all, and it'll be okay. (Want to know how good? If I hadn't decided to randomly give Kota a treat Sunday before bed, I wouldn't have seen her in respiratory distress and she would've passed that night. Now I get another 6mo-2yr with her. The ER vet was expensive, especially with the hospitalization, but it was within do-ability, and we got a $400 refund when I picked her up. I usually work straight 5am-1pm without even bathroom breaks on Mondays, but was scheduled to be weirdly done by 10am, which made shifting my morning folks to other days very easy after I realized I had to take her to the vet Sunday night at midnight and knew I wouldn't be in the next day, so I didn't even drop the ball on my clients. Crap happens in life whether God's in your corner or not; it sure helps to have the Creator on your side when it does.)

Also: I typically like to workout Mon-Thurs (4 days minimum weekly) and have only had a chance to workout Tues, but I should be able to workout today as well, tomorrow, and Saturday with the event, so even though it's different days, I'll still get my four baseline workouts in. As I said: God. Is. Good! I thanked Him this morning that we were able to handle all this, could pay for it, and weren't dealing with house stuff and our own health stuff at the same time. That in and of itself is a blessing.

So anyway. All the above: THAT, my friends, is how you remain successful even when life throws you incredibly hard, fast, and painful curveballs.

Suck it, Satan.
I'll update you as I go.
Can't wait to get these stories done for you guys.
Love you all.
Ciao.

Jess the Mess