ebb and flow

3:43 AM

I don’t want to do this.  I just want to skip today and sleep late.  Sit up in bed.  What will it hurt to skip a couple of days.

Sigh

I get up and start changing into my running gear

6:57 PM

I finished a chapter last week and I have no clue as to where to take the story now.

Sit and stare, sit and stare.  Nothing comes to mind.

Pace the room, read a magazine, look at a website.  Still nothing.  I start typing something.  anything.  Hope that a story will resolve itself from the effort.

9:01 AM

A pile of emails.  Requests, inquiries, return emails, phone messages.  So much to do.  Where to start?  How to start?  Where will I get the enthusiasm to tackle it all?  Start, one email at a time.

Energy is like that.  Some days you spring out of bed, fresh as a daisy.  Other days not so much.  When you’re young you have that energy to spare and you can disregard those low energy days.  As you age it gets more difficult.  Exercise and a good diet can help mitigate that to an extent but you also have to admit that sometimes it’s overwhelming.

But the thing is that you can’t give in to the lethargy.  Nothing good comes out of that.  You slip on one day and then another and soon you’ve got a bad habit going.  So you soldier on as best as possible.  If you’ve built up a routine over the years this will help you carry on during these spells of low energy.  Force of habit is a good motivator.  But what will get you across is just a sheer stubborn will not to give in.

You have to stand up straight and continue on regardless of how low on energy you feel.  No dramatic declarations of intent, no promises of rest as a reward at the end.  Just a determination to get things done.