How is everyone? These two months flew by so much that I struggled to remember what I did during this time. It was mostly a holding pattern – trying to keep up with work and not always succeeding. There’s always something more to do. It’s one of those perils of being an anxious overachiever and something I am trying to consciously let go of. I don’t want to be spinning my wheels in the same position for small, incremental gains that don’t mean much in the larger scheme of things.
That said, some habits are incredibly hard to let go of.
One thing that I did for myself in these two months was focus on myself. With my daughter going to college and my son becoming more independent with day-to-day routines, I am more into journaling – introspecting on my daily routines and feelings, exercising, and trying (and more often failing) to eat healthily.
One real achievement was finally completing a 30-minute run, something I have been trying and failing to achieve for the past two years. My next goal is to now be able to run 5km continuously.
I also got a fair amount of reading done. I read and, more importantly, enjoyed everything I read these past few months. I have been a bit lax with blogging about them, though—the only ones I have talked about so far are Piranesi and The Reappearance of Rachel Price. But Homecoming by Kate Morton was a delight; Girl A by Abigail Dean wasn’t a delight per se, but a harrowing, cathartic read. A huge slew of book reviews is coming your way soon!
I’ve found that my social life has dwindled a lot in the past few years. Having smaller kids meant a lot of social occasions with other moms, but now that the kids are more grown, I find myself a little lost when it comes to friendships. I also used to attend many blog events that would help occupy weekends, but I feel I have aged out of that scene. It all started to feel a little fake to me. It always was, but it has gotten even more so, it seems. And I have stepped back from that as well.
I need to find more ways to occupy my time other than constantly working or watching streaming shows. Because I seem to be doing a lot of that these days. But also? Everybody seems to be doing it? Every Monday at lunch at work, the topic of conversation always seems to be what people binge-watched that weekend. So, I am guessing it’s not just me doing it.
Anyway, I watched The Perfect Couple, the perfect weekend binge-watch. I know Netflix gets a lot of criticism when it comes to quality, but they have really nailed the formula of the mini-series, creating something addictive enough to spend a whole weekend lazing in bed 🙈. I am now actively trying to stop myself from watching Nobody Wants This when there are so many memes and trailers bombarding me from all sides.
Snubnose fell very seriously ill in September. She had a high fever and tried white-knuckling it for a bit. We were on daily calls with her, and when we realized things weren’t getting better, we had her flown down home. She was in a state when she got here, and we immediately hospitalized her and got her on a cocktail of medicines and antibiotics. What was very worrying was that all tests came back negative, but at the same time, she wasn’t responding to antibiotics. The doctors eventually treated it as an unnamed fever, but it was extremely concerning for several days.
Once she started responding to the antibiotics, she recovered quickly and gained quite a bit of strength. She’s gone back to college with stern admonitions to communicate proactively regarding health, eat and sleep well, and not overwork—yes, she’s another anxious workaholic like me 😥.
This trip, while convalescing, she wanted something light and comforting to watch, so we turned to Studio Ghibli. It was something we always wanted to watch together but didn’t have the time. Now, we cuddled up on the hospital bed, bingeing My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo, and Howl’s Moving Castle. Ghibli movies are always a delight!
Financially, this was a mixed month. This year, I have been making a lot of effort to be mindful of expenses, considering college and hostel, and other sundry payments. August and September were particularly frugal months (except for my Hobonichi haul), but despite all the savings and investments, I ended up in the red – hospitalization expenses and flight tickets. I know that I will be reimbursed for the medical bit, and I know that eventually, I will be fine, but it was still annoying, nonetheless, to end up worse than before.
So, that was August and September—nothing really special happened. But also, something did happen. I may have set the wheels in motion for something new, personal, and challenging. I don’t know if what I have started will eventually take fruit, and even if it does, will it be worth it to pursue it further? There are lots of open questions and uncertainties. Let’s see.
I’m looking forward to festival times in October. There will be lots of hard work as well, and hopefully, I will manage to juggle everything all at once without getting overwhelmed!
