Priorities

In my last post, I started out by mentioning how long it had been since I’d last posted, and blamed my absence on being out of the country for a month. That was three weeks ago, but this time the reason is different; my priorities have changed.

I left my job at CGI almost six months ago now. When I worked there, due to the nature of the role, I regularly had periods of an hour or more where I was simply monitoring tasks, rather than actively working. I often used this time to (among other things) think about blog posts, write down ideas or draft up my thoughts. While I love my new job, it’s a lot more mentally intensive, and I no longer have this time to reflect and conceive new post ideas.

I had a backlog of topics when I left CGI, but those ran out a couple months ago, and I’ve struggled to find the time to sit and think about what I want to post, never mind actually do any writing towards it. My increased running schedule, combined with the actual genuine disruption of living in Switzerland for a month, have naturally slowed my writings to almost a complete stop. I’m now unlikely to reach my target of averaging one post per week for 2017, but you know what? I’m totally fine with that. My priorities have shifted away from writing to running, and with less “free time” during my working hours (and also less mental capacity to think on weeknights), I’m probably not going to write much more than a couple times a month from now onwards.

Another thing that has suffered this year is my personal projects. I don’t really have an excuse for the first few months of the year, but in the last six months I’ve been learning so much within my new job that I haven’t had the willpower to learn more and work more on evenings and weekends. Instead, my energy has been directed into my running, which I’ve talked about at length on here, leading towards my first half marathon in two weeks time. That one will definitely get a post.

I do have a few posts in mind that I’ve started to form the basics of, but finding the time and energy to finish writing them up is likely to be the real challenge. It’s not that I haven’t been making the effort, it’s more that my focus has been elsewhere recently. Juggling my priorities is a struggle, especially when my routine is knocked out of sync like it has been the last couple of months with Zurich in July and hosting people for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back into a rhythm soon, but if my posting remains sparse, at least I know why.