As we are now in the first week of 2022, it’s easy for most of us to start looking toward the future. For those of us who have a big year in store, like for me, finishing school, releasing a new book, production of a new play I wrote, and a few things I can’t actually reveal on here yet, there’s a lot to look forward to.
I’ve certainly been spending the past few weeks thinking about the year to come, as well as the amount of work I have in store to not only finish the things I have planned, but to prepare for what comes after. All of this has the tendency to feel more than a little overwhelming.
Which is why I’ve been posting on here a bit of late about taking care of your mental health. I’ve been personally avoiding my own mental health for the past month or so as I power through the needed activities for success, and during these couple weeks of in between times, I’ve been realizing how much stress I’ve been putting on myself for the past long period and wondering how much longer I’ve got before this amount of stress is too much.
Luckily, for me, some of the big things for this year are actually completions of things. Like school. Once I finish the next six months, I no longer have to take at least two hours of every day trying to fit in completing my homework. Yeah, I might have a big job hunt to commence after I get that degree, in order to best capitalize on the work I’ve put in these last couple of years, but that’s nothing compared to the amount of effort I’ve been putting into getting this piece of paper that the occupational world loves so dearly. And it’s definitely no where near the amount of effort required to complete a 100-level course for the online classes in the University of Wisconsin’s Flex Program.
What this all means is that here, at the start of the new year, I’m looking toward the end of a really long tunnel I’ve been stuck in for the past couple years. And instead of focusing on the length of tunnel I have left, I’m really trying to put my focus on the light at the end.
While also trying to figure out if I can somehow cram in a few additional projects for myself.
And I’m really eager to just be done with school, in case I haven’t mentioned that yet.
Adam Oster: Unfocused Creative 