LFGryph

I had another couple posts I was working on, but since it’s Day 7 of Blaugust I feel more like doing a look over the past week and how it’s gone for me. Seven points for seven days and some free cat pics!

1. I enjoy having multiple posts in various degrees of prep.

I cannot for the life of me remember how far ahead I blogged in 2015, but I feel like I tried very hard to finish each entry before moving onto something new. I’m being less strict this time around and I think it’s very much helping both my creativity and my stress levels.

There’s still comfort in knowing I have at least three or four posts half done, but it’s much less stress on my ADHD brain to only complete the one I feel like focusing on that particular day. I can allow myself some freedom, instead of working against myself by forcing my brain to focus on a topic that randomly doesn’t seem interesting today, or feels less “important” than something else. I don’t have to use up as much of my limited executive function battery.

It also means I spend more time writing in my Good Head Space of being interested and passionate about what I’m talking about, and less time slogging through, “Well I really ought to finish this thing.” Further, it means if I only have half the thoughts for a post together, I can at least get those thoughts down and worry about the rest of the post later.

2. Creative/online stuff balances out my job, my job balances out my creative/online stuff.

I tend to get too tied up in my work even when it’s not something close to my heart, so that goes triple when I’m back in the animal shelter field. It’s not always a bad thing, but even I realize you have to balance work with the rest of your life. I always seem to forget writing is an exceptional anchor for me, and especially when it’s writing I can share with others. 

The reverse is also true. If I get too hyperfocused on my writing, I turn too far inwards. Getting out and going to work, talking to people offline, and making a real difference in the world means I don’t have to get too upset if I put out a blog post that isn’t as polished as I would like. Maybe I did a sloppy post, but you know what? I also literally helped save lives today. So I think I’m doing ok.

3. I am still hyperfixated on Good Omens Season 2.

I mean, it’s true. *shrugs* I’m not complaining about it.

I spent a lot of my childhood in states of hyperfixation on media – The Redwall series, Watership Down, and even The X-Files all come to mind – and it’s awfully convenient to know where my dopamine is coming from for a while.

Just because it’s been a long time doesn’t necessarily make it unpleasant, just surprising.

My brain has thankfully stepped back from the “What’s really going on?” theories. (No insult to the theories! I just don’t think that was the main part I found compelling.) It’s still happy to sit in the space where it’s pleasant to connect to the world and the characters, though. Connecting is also easier to do now than when I was a kid. When I need some dopamine I can jump on tumblr, listen to a podcast, or turn on a themed Spotify mix someone else put together. 

4. Apparently I need to do more cat posts, not less.

I tried so hard last Blaugust not to talk too much about animals! I think I was trying to make my blog a “Real” gaming blog and felt like I had to always stay focused. But this is a personal blog, no one is paying me to write it, and there’s no reason I can’t branch out into other topics close to my heart. And the internet, of course, loves cat pics. Proven fact.

5. Blogging helps me slow down and pay attention to how I feel about new games, and remember to screenshot as I go.

I don’t have a lot to expand on for this point, but it is a nice bonus of blogging about the games I’m playing. I am definitely one of those people who writes in part to help me think. And I also pay more attention to things when I want to share them with others.

6. Especially with my social media so split, it’s helpful to be able to post across multiple platforms.

This is another point that’s pretty self evident. I have certain friends on one platform or another who will likely never platform hop. While short social media posts are fine for some things, it’s nice to be able to share thoughts with a wider group of people without having to repeat myself.

7. I’m balancing things better than I expected.

I think some of that is the part where, compared to 2015, I’m more aware of how my brain works. I’m also on non-stimulant meds for my ADHD – they don’t “fix” my brain but they certainly do help. With my meds, I’m usually able to use my other tools to help with time management etc. Whereas unmedicated, I struggle to even use those tools in the first place.

I haven’t been getting enough sleep, but no worse than before I started the daily blogging. I have been going a bit short on my exercise, but a couple of those days were busy enough at work that I would have taken rest days regardless.

I think I’m mostly pulling time from social media and watching Youtube for my writing. I’m not great at time sense or always knowing where mine went even on a good day, but I feel like that’s where some of the extra time is coming from. On work days, I’ve been doing a lot of my writing right when I get home, and that’s mostly working pretty well other than the aforementioned cutting into some exercise time.

I’m cautiously optimistic further weeks might go more easily since I’ll spend less time remembering the basic mechanics of posting to my blog, and less time updating the blog itself. Unless I get a Super Cool Idea I Have To Implement Right Now.

Plans for Blaugust going forward?

I’m not sticking strictly to the themed weeks, but I’m hoping to finish my post about my job in animal welfare next week. The timing would fit with the “Introduce Yourself” week. I have a few other games I want to talk about, and a huge backlog I’m trying to get around to. I had a random thought the other day to do a post about the top 5 electronic devices I use daily, other than my computer.

I kind of want to do a post talking about my experience with that last charity fundraiser – it was super interesting to bring together my work life and my gaming life, and to bring together animal shelter fundraising with streaming. I talked about it a lot on social media at the time, but I never really pulled it all together into one post.

Part of me wants to dive deeper into what I mean about being hyperfixated on Good Omens 2, and why my views on that sort of hyperfixation have changed after my ADHD diagnosis. But I’m not sure if I’ll have the mental fortitude to do something that heavy on introspection. Work is still pretty wild with kitten season not entirely winding down just yet.

All told, I’m quite satisfied with the way this week went, and optimistic about the rest of the month!

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