APPRECIATION #55: PICKING UP WHERE YOU LEFT OFF

rd.

Just finished Spring Break. And the week after Spring Break…

Why do we hold ourselves to arbitrary deadlines? We want structure, I suppose.  And to get things done. I told myself last month that I should write an Appreciation a day in the month of March… and post them here….and  was doing that…and then school wore me down. And then I hit Spring Break….and I almost kept going… spending my break doing that. And then I realized that nobody was reading this, I hadn’t made any real obligation to it, and that working on a website is quite antithetical to anything I consider a break. If I have to wear pants, or use a computer, I’m not relaxing. It’s hard to get away without wearing pants, but I can find times where I don’t use a computer.

So I took a break. And so now, weeks later, I can finish this thought.

I had a fun experience a few days ago when I found the short story collection I was working on last year. At one time, my goal was to spend the summer pressing through and finishing a solid draft of a novel or linked story collection. And then I realized that for my sanity’s sake spending time off from school being in the mental space of writing about the often frustrating things about school wasn’t much of a break. My goal was to outline and have (very rough) drafts of 100 chapters. I had 96 and then I took a break.I couldn’t get any further. I think I started working on writing Appreciations in order to claim some positive mental space back.  And then a few days ago I picked up where I left off and wrote 97 – 100.

I appreciate picking up where you left off, often it’s a fun surprise to remember your progress. This can be true of projects, friendships, books, you name it. It can also be true of questions, or searches for answers. Sometimes a student will ask me a question, or life will fashion one for me, or some weird dream will give me one that will completely stump me that I will keep returning to. It’s fun to pick up where you left off, and in order to experience this, sometimes you have to stop.