Keep Going 053

Brought to you by the feeling of a ballpoint pen on newspaper.

👋 Hello everyone!

This week I sort of checked out—I turned off Slack and notifications during the day and focused on getting some big work projects done. It was kind of amazing, and it made me realize how often I either get distracted or go looking for distraction when I’m hitting a tough point of a project. This time I just kept pressing on, or stared off into space until I was ready to get back to work. It was pretty dang great.

I’m working on disconnecting a bit from my own expectations of my digital presence. That sounds so high-falutin’, but I have been “online” in a very real and open way for a very long time—from Twitter to blogs to Goodreads to Instagram to Pinterest… and I’m slowly gathering myself back in and closing off some of those inputs and outputs. I did a big Instagram and Twitter purge, I’m working on moving Pinterest things to private journals, and I’m letting go of my self-prescribed obligations of weekly newsletters, regular Slack check-ins, keeping up with all the things. Don’t get me wrong, this is no digital detox—I’m nowhere near ready to disconnect completely from many channels—it’s just a decision to ease up on myself and allow my brain to be more quiet.

All that means for Keep Going is that it may not be weekly; I may send this thing out biweekly, or monthly, or quarterly, or I may break all the rules and send more than one a week. WHO KNOWS. 😉

What have you been up to lately? I’ve been…

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🍒 Eating

I guess I forgot to take photos of food this week! I promise I did eat things, though I don’t really remember what. 🤷‍♀️

1. I used up the last of the veggies—zucchini and tomatoes— and tossed them with pasta, then topped them with vegan feta, which was REALLY good! Justin also made me a cherry nojito, with a fresh cherry on top.

2. Justin made a veggie omelet and hash browns for brunch! The cilantro really seals the deal.

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📚 Reading

1. This interactive article from the Washington Post is super fun! And might help explain my love for BTS. 💜

2. I started reading American Royals, which I think I have started-but-not-finished before. It’s pretty cute so far, and fun to imagine an alternate universe where America is a monarchy instead of a democracy. One fun quote: “Elect the king or queen—what a funny concept. Everyone knew that elections only worked for judges and Congress. Making the executive branch pander to the people, go out begging for votes—that could only end in disaster. That structure would attract the wrong sort of people: power-hungry people with twisted agendas.” 🙃

3. I loved this piece on how being irresponsible can be a good thing sometimes. When I feel like I’m just not giving my all, Justin often says to me, “your 70% is everyone else’s 100%.” So I’m trying to let go a little. As this article says, “There are opportunities to fuck off everywhere.” 😁

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😂 Laughing

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That’s it! Thank you for reading—hit reply and tell me what you’re up to.

--Crystal