Week notes #24

Another week gone by. Well, sort of. I wrote my last week note 5 days ago but let's round up for the fun of it, eh?

Well, I guess the first thing to say is our youngest took his first steps this week. He's been crawling since he was about 6 months old so we've already developed eyes in the backs of our heads but now we're having to think more vertically as he can reach things a lot easier.

Secondly, we put up our Christmas trees. I'm normally not one to get excited about Christmas until December but with all that's happened this year, we wanted to kick start the build-up. The kids enjoyed it all so that helps quiet the voice that says "still too early".

Our first week having both kids in school/childcare has been a bit strange (the house is weirdly quiet without them) but after lockdowns and a baby who likes to be held a lot of the time, it's been a nice change of pace just mooching around the house at lunch. Being able to get some odd jobs done around the house without the extra layer of thought playing out scenarios of what might happen should you leave a cupboard door open longer than 3 seconds.

It's also given me a chance to make a few adjustments. I have a few daily habits I track in TickTick:

  • Floss (I got told off by the dentist at my last check-up)
  • Meditate
  • Work on comics
  • Read

Flossing has become part of my "getting ready" morning routine so that's not changed in the last week, but the rest has.

Meditating, I would try drop in at some point during the day as a short break from work and the others, I'd leave until the evenings. By the time the kids are in bed (and asleep) this can sometimes be 7:30pm, sometimes 8 or 8:30 etc. You get the idea, slightly less predictable. Sometimes, I'd be setting up to work on comics and the clock is ticking towards 9pm and then I had some reading to do as well.

Now, the quick answer would be to give myself some slack. Who cares if you don't read for a day or so? Well, I know me all too well. Leave it a day or so, then it slips even further down the priority list and then I fall back into not reading at all. So, for me, there's no slack there. Get it done. Every day.

Now, back to this week. We now have lunch hours again. I've been finding time each day to either read or do some comic work and meditating has now become part of my "getting ready" routine too. This means by 9am, I've already ticked off two items. By 5pm, I've ticked off 3. Leaving just one task left to do.

Much more managable.

I feel I'm rambling a bit now so I'll just move onto a quick comic update.

The comic

I'm still working on the colours of issue 1 and probably will be doing for some time yet. I'm feeling myself getting a bit quicker as I'm getting a better idea of what I'm doing. As with most things when it comes to my art, I'm my own worst critic and need to keep that voice quiet that will kill my confidence and motivation. I think turning up every day and putting in the work is definitely helping.