This past week I spent several days in NYC. After returning home, I found myself in a funk. Or what I refer to as a MOOD. Being away was wonderful and relaxing. I had not realized how much I NEEDED to get away. . .to just escape my hectic life for a few days.Now that I'm back, all I can think about is: how did I move at the speed I did before I left? Trying to return to my routine has been daunting, at best. So, needless to say nothing has gotten done, including reading and blog posting. I think I'm really feeling the after shock of how stressed and tired I've become these last few months.
I've decided to take it easy on myself for awhile to help me ease back into my routine. One of the things I've left go is my personal challenge of not returning any library books unread. I actually did a good job with this prior to my mini-vacation. I managed to read over half of them (all new releases) before I decided to stop this challenge. I now realize that there are other books I prefer to read (both library and my own books) instead of reading based on due dates.
I've also been working on incorporating reading more of my personal books each month and I realized my library challenge was interfering with that. I really want to start reading more of my own books. At one point, I was so excited to read them, only having that excitement fade or be placed on a newer, purchased book. Often times I read great reviews for a book and immediately check to see if my library owns it. If it does, then I will add my name to the wait list.
Now, I've decided to be a bit more selective to what I add to my TBR List. Let's face it. . .I can't read every book that has a great review. I added a "Notes/Comments" column to my TBR List to which I can highlight where I saw the book, review ratings, etc. to help organize my reading.
Being away really forced me to re-evaluate my priorities and reflect on my behaviors that cause me unnecessary stress. I need to find more balance in my life, not focusing on what other people are doing, when they doing it, how long it takes them to do it, etc. Life is short enough as it is, why make it any shorter?
Yesterday I started feeling like myself again and had a productive day playing "catch up". I managed to get a lot done and no longer feel as overwhelmed as I did my first night back. Today started out productive, but now as I look at my clock, I realize I haven't picked up my book this weekend nor started to watch season 1 of Fringe. I'm off to make lunch and will watch the Pilot episode while I'm eating. Then I'll read for a few hours before I need to start preparing for next week.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Hey Shon, I'm glad you're feeling better today. I tend to have a a lot of the same book goals as you. I have stopped stressing myself out over unread review or library, or TBR books, and just read what I feel like when I feel like..."life is to short", as you pointed out.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had fun in NYC, we do once or twice a year, and that is plenty for me..LOL
Have a good week.
We went to NYC last year. We LOVED it. (I'd never been, and I'm appalled at what I've been missing.) We'd all go back in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteI long ago gave up on not returning library books unread. I'd keep finding new ones I liked better! Or I'd run out of time before the due date came along. I tend to way overestimate how much time I'll have...
Currently I'm reading "Replacement Child, a great memoir on how the death of a child impacts the family and the generations that follow. It's just great. Opening line: "I was born of fire." (Her sister is killed when a plane crashes into the house.) The author portrays her family objectively, though with much love.