June 28, 2020
Sunday, 8:11pm

Saving this week’s vid in the background before I upload on YT. Pretty hectic week and I’m hoping this coming week is a bit better.

I’m looking forward to the longer holiday weekend.

In contrast to the previous week where I drew every day after work, this past week has been a bit dry. Work has been so busy intense that I’m just pretty much wiped out after that.

I actually didn’t get to work on my current WIP until last night. I got in about 3 hours of drawing/inking, with an hour of that recorded for the vid.

As far as everything else on the checklist, here’s the down-low:

I managed to get some journaling in, drawing, write a blog post, meditate a few times, and stay within limits as far as my food and drink intake (although I ate a bit more sodium this past week, I think).

I didn’t get to exercise this past week, and I didn’t have any leisure time, really.

Sometimes I wonder how long I can sustain this level of activity. It seriously feels like I am not getting any time to just…relax.

Food for thought this upcoming week.

Gotta wrap this up so I can get in some downtime this evening before heading to bed.

Be Well,
{R}

June 21, 2020
9:32 pm

I just realized that I uploaded the video without checking the final audio levels. It should be fine - I keep the levels pretty consistent as is and use a sort of a template to work from.

Currently, I’m trying to just get back to inking the new piece I’m working on. I can probably squeeze another half an hour before I get too tired for the night.

For the weekly check-in, I accomplished everything but the meditation part. If you’re just coming across this now and you’re a bit confused feel free to read back through the archives. Perhaps I can better organize this blog to point to a sort of guided reading here for first time visitors.

I will change that starting this week since the whole point of me doing these weekly tracking type of activity is to practice self-awareness. If I can be deliberate about my processes, patterns, and habits I feel that I can be in the right headspace for my professional, personal, and creative goals.

I am desperately trying to get back to my drawing so there…

Till the next post.

Be well,

[R]

10:02pm

Where’d the day go? I was hoping I’d have more time to work on this new piece I just sketched out earlier. The best I can do right now is to draw in a few guidelines for the drawing that way I can get started right away when I have time to spare after the day job.

But first, the weekly check-in.

What did I get done from the list:
Exercise (I got a couple of workout sessions in).
Drawing
Meditation
Wrote a blog post
Healthy diet

What was lacking:
Journaling and Leisure time

The last few days, my mind’s been on overdrive. Just hyperactive with a lot of ideas. It seems like I am more receptive than usual, just soaking up a lot of new stimuli. More so than usual. I have to do my best to capture these ideas as they come along so that I could sort them out and work on the ones I want to work on as time becomes available.

That’s the main challenge, not only at the moment, but always… time to work on art is scarce. I have to work smart and plan how I’m going to approach each piece at this point. The more I prepare and plan, the easier it is for me to actually focus on the act of getting it from my head to pen, to paper.

I'm excited for what's to come and I can't wait to share them with you.

I’ll conclude here for now. I'm tired and wired all at once. I need to start winding down so I can get some decent sleep to fuel me through the work week, and more importantly, to have the energy for my other pursuits afterwards.

Be Well,
[R]

9:44pm, Sunday

Waiting for the edited vid to save in the background so I can upload it as I write a brief post.

I recorded the audio before noon today with the intention of being able to edit, upload, and blog earlier in the afternoon but here I am…almost 10pm, still plugging away.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s just me who’s such busy days juggling work, family, professional goals, personal goals, creative pursuits, etc.

I swear it feels like from sun up to long past sun down, I am working on something. There’s a lot to be done and I don’t procrastinate. I like to take action and get things done. At the same time I need to slow down and rest which is very hard for me to do.

There’s this sense of urgency I have, and it feels like I’ve got to cram everything in, especially all the things I want to accomplish because time is running out.

Anyway, here’s the checklist -

What did I get done:
Ink drawing, journal entry, blog post, stay within my healthy dietary goals (although I have been drinking a little more coffee), meditate, and even fit in some leisure time.

What did I miss:
Exercise (I did not get to do any at all)

I have a lot of things rattling around my brain but I’ll end this post right here since I’m tired and I still have to set up the video.

Have a good week.

Be well,
[R]

9:53pm, Sunday

Just posted the new vid up on YT. As always, it's been a busy weekend to end a busy week.

Between day job, maintaining a household, doing stuff for and with my family, scraping together time in the evenings to study for a cert...it's a wonder I manage to post these weekly updates at all. I look forward to it since it helps me step outside and look into what I actually do in a week. It basically forces me to reflect.

What I missed:
Drawing
Journal entry

What I got done:
Meditation
Exercise
Eating healthy
Wrote blog post
Leisure time

Other things that received the reallocated time that is currently not part of my weekly to do list:
Studying for cert (I will bump this into my weekly to-do list since it's a priority)
Tutoring/helping out my niece with her school work
Birthday cookout for stepson
Other odds and ends in the home front

***

Going to end this now as I am about to eat a very late supper, chill out, and get ready for bed.

Be well
[R]

8:46pm, Monday
Memorial Day

Posting this on a Monday rather than a Saturday. Also uploading the video tonight rather than on a Sunday. I’m being a bit more forgiving in regards to timing this week since I’ve been working myself pretty hard with the day job, home stuff, as well as working towards professional and personal goals.

It’s the end of a 3-day weekend I was very much looking forward to last week and it pretty much turned out the way I had expected it to be give or take a couple of unexpected things. For the most part I got a hell of a lot accomplished the past week. At the same time it doesn’t feel like I have enough time for all of what I had planned.

There is never enough time for everything I want to do. That’s the rub. And I’m going to just have to be fine with that.

I fit in as much as I could within a day, a week, a month, and so on and so forth. That's all I can do.

My focus is getting narrower, which is what I am actually aiming for at this point in my life. I need to have the blinders on and just focus on my top goals and what I need to do to get those completed/accomplished.

Which brings me back to my weekly checklist that I have been doing since the beginning of the year.

What did I get done the past week?

Everything.

Yep. I got everything on my list checked off.

Not absolutely perfect, frequency-wise, BUT, I got to do every single aspect that I deemed is important in order to keep myself balanced.

So the past week, I wrote a blog post, journaled, worked out, kept my diet healthy, meditated, drew, and had a bit of leisure time to spare. Not too bad, considering I have been working longer hours, maintaining a very busy household, and doing additional tasks that I have not even mentioned here and on the video updates.

I didn’t realize I managed to get all of this done until today.

This is why I started to keep track of my weekly progress. It’s quite easy to forget about all the little things you do daily to advance your goals and just keep moving forward. It’s important to pause and acknowledge these things and give yourself credit in order to gain more confidence and build that momentum.

Because even when you think you’ve not done enough, it turns out you’ve done plenty.

Until next week.

Be Well,
{R]

10:36pm, Saturday,
A brief entry since this past week has been a bit sparse in terms of weekly milestones go.
Time has been occupied mostly with work and ordinary life stuff. In fact, I’ve just now gotten around to drawing this week. I managed to fit in about an hour of drawing tonight, half an hour of which I recorded so I’d have material for tomorrow’s vid.


What I got done from my usual weekly checklist:

• Journal entry (1X)
  
• Meditation (1X, end of day, longer session)
  
• Drawing (1X)
• Blog post

Things I’ve missed:

• Exercise
  
• Leisure time (pretty much non-existent this past week)

On the fence:
Healthy diet (mirrors my progress the previous week, food intake is well-balanced, less carbs, but coffee intake doubled during end of the week, plus I had diet caffeinated soda on Friday)


Some progress in the sleep front though. I work from home right now so I’ve been sleeping in about an extra half an hour to an hour in the morning for a couple of days. However, this past week my work calendar is busier than normal so I anticipated a busier work week especially during specific days. There were a couple of very long days that just about took every bit of extra energy I might have had for the evenings to work on projects or devote time towards some other goals I have.


Misc:
I might talk about this when I record my audio tomorrow for the vid but I watched a few videos that deal with the topic of artists having day jobs and trying to fit in their creative pursuits during their busy days.
***
I am looking forward to the upcoming 3 day weekend.

Anyway, this might be a good time to conclude this entry since my tired mind is starting to drift.


Till next week.


Be Well,


[R]