Work, Stress, and Writing: Sometimes, Life Runs Late

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Abstract

purpose of this experiment was to help me get back to enjoying my writing. I wanted to write something every day, or at least most days, so I could enjoy it. It didn’t matter what I wrote — someone suggested that I could write a paragraph about how I couldn’t think about anything to write about. What mattered was that I wrote <i>something</i>.</p><p id="965a">I think I was getting a bit too wrapped up in keeping everything streamlined and scheduled that I forgot about that. I would pride myself on getting seven articles written in my free time during the workweek so I could sit and relax and enjoy my weekends, all the while missing the original point of the experiment. I’m supposed to enjoy this, not think of it as an obligation or another job.</p><p id="61c1">So, I’m going to re-evaluate this weekend and figure out what to do. I still plan on publishing something every day (this is the Thing a Day, after all). I just think I may change my approach slightly. It has to happen for the moment anyway since work is absolutely bonkers right now and I can’t necessarily keep to my standard writing schedule. However, I think this is as good a time as any to step back and take stock.</p><p id="ee80">Anyway, keep an eye out every day for a new thing to appear on this page, and if you like what you see, go ahead and follow me and subscribe to the Thing a Day. You never know what you’re going to get.</p><p id="38a0">If you liked this, please subscribe to my publication, Thing a Day. I publish something every day on a variety of topics, so you never know what you’re going to see!</p><div id="78cf" class="link-block"> <a href="https://medium.com/thing-a-day"> <div> <div> <h2>Thing a Day</h2> <div><h3>In which I write one thing each day.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*eDMwsybTKAuurmHy6-tfoA.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="54f3">If you’re not already a Medium member, I encourage you to <a href="https://matthewmaniaci.medium.com/membership">subscribe</a>. It’s just $5 per month (or$ 50 for a yearlong

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subscription), and you can read an unlimited number of my articles as well as unlimited articles from tens of thousands of Medium writers. Your subscription fees support the writers on this platform, and if you click <a href="https://matthewmaniaci.medium.com/membership">this referral link</a> or sign up through my email subscription below, part of your subscription fee will go toward supporting my writing and enabling me to continue publishing a Thing a Day.</p><p id="398a">Here are some other things I’ve written:</p><div id="1cb3" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/welcome-to-the-thing-a-day-a1257eb3e747"> <div> <div> <h2>Welcome to the Thing a Day</h2> <div><h3>A brief introduction to my publication.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*OtcnqH00Tzhmukrx)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="a79e" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/me-time-why-work-and-weekends-should-be-separate-e3da8979a7a7"> <div> <div> <h2>Me Time: Why Work and Weekends Should Be Separate</h2> <div><h3>The art of respecting your free time.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*fRl9mlCNKHyCwxre)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="0a5e" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/i-work-to-live-and-you-should-too-3b0f65d299bf"> <div> <div> <h2>I Work To Live, and You Should Too</h2> <div><h3>Why we are not (and should not be) defined by our jobs.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*FTrNMJKRbbUvbRYo)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

No catchy subtitle today, sorry.

My work has been pretty stressful lately. I’ve got quite a few deadlines coming up in the next two weeks and a lot of writing to be done on those projects.

Normally, the writing I do for fun happens at the beginning of the day, before I start my job. It acts as a warm-up for my nine-to-five job.

These days, however, with all my deadlines, I haven’t been writing as much in the mornings as I’d like. Yesterday’s article was something that had been unfinished in my drafts folder for a while that I edited a bit and wrote a couple of paragraphs on before throwing it up.

(I’ve actually got a couple of other articles set up for that treatment, but they all require me to ask certain people for permission to talk about parts of their lives that they may be uncomfortable sharing publicly.)

Normally, I have an article ready to go the day before it goes up. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll have the whole weekend’s worth of articles ready to go, so all I have to do is schedule them in advance and they just auto-publish the correct day. That’s why most of my articles magically appear at the same time every day.

Not this weekend, though. Work is busy and stressful, and so I’ve been lax on my daily writing, doing little bits here and there but not producing enough full articles to keep me going all weekend. So, you all have to deal with this slap-dash nonsense today (and probably tomorrow, I haven’t figured that out yet).

In doing this, I had to remind myself about why I decided to pursue this project. My initial goal for this was to write and publish something every day. I’ve been pretty successful, I think — I just published my 61st article yesterday, marking two full months of daily articles.

However, the purpose of this experiment was to help me get back to enjoying my writing. I wanted to write something every day, or at least most days, so I could enjoy it. It didn’t matter what I wrote — someone suggested that I could write a paragraph about how I couldn’t think about anything to write about. What mattered was that I wrote something.

I think I was getting a bit too wrapped up in keeping everything streamlined and scheduled that I forgot about that. I would pride myself on getting seven articles written in my free time during the workweek so I could sit and relax and enjoy my weekends, all the while missing the original point of the experiment. I’m supposed to enjoy this, not think of it as an obligation or another job.

So, I’m going to re-evaluate this weekend and figure out what to do. I still plan on publishing something every day (this is the Thing a Day, after all). I just think I may change my approach slightly. It has to happen for the moment anyway since work is absolutely bonkers right now and I can’t necessarily keep to my standard writing schedule. However, I think this is as good a time as any to step back and take stock.

Anyway, keep an eye out every day for a new thing to appear on this page, and if you like what you see, go ahead and follow me and subscribe to the Thing a Day. You never know what you’re going to get.

If you liked this, please subscribe to my publication, Thing a Day. I publish something every day on a variety of topics, so you never know what you’re going to see!

If you’re not already a Medium member, I encourage you to subscribe. It’s just $5 per month (or $50 for a yearlong subscription), and you can read an unlimited number of my articles as well as unlimited articles from tens of thousands of Medium writers. Your subscription fees support the writers on this platform, and if you click this referral link or sign up through my email subscription below, part of your subscription fee will go toward supporting my writing and enabling me to continue publishing a Thing a Day.

Here are some other things I’ve written: