I haven’t done a single monthly wrap-up all year. Why start now you may ask? Well, because we are nearing six months of COVID-19 and I am done letting it rule my brain.
A yellow cover that looks like an old newspaper features the title “The Poison Squad, One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusad for Food Safety and the Turn of the Twentieth Century.” 
The book cover has a yellow and purple string art showing a chicken with purple mountains behind it and features the title “Engagement and Espionage” 
Not only was this a low reading month for me but most of these books I read in a burst of energy rather than my usual daily reads. It was like I was living two different lives and one of them was me fighting the quick-sand of indecision.
I did manage to get a review up for The Dutch House today and I know I reviewed Engagement and Espionage but all of these other beautiful books are without reviews! Not only am I reading far less than usual, I am reviewing hardly any of my books and I really haven’t since March.
Here is a handy chart of what I have decided is me muffled by COVID concerns and the new (and hopefully improved) me.
I work best with a plan and a checklist. But none of that matters if I am constantly second guessing myself. This weekend I sat down and realized that the second (and third….) guessing was really what was keeping me from living every day to the fullest. I couldn’t decide how to proceed on anything and that feeling, that I was stuck, was absolutely of my own making. I had no real work plan and I was just doing the assignments as they were handed to me, no more and no less. No reading or writing plan, no workout plan, nothing! Everyday I was just treading water.
Saturday morning I woke up and realized that if I had gotten myself stuck I could un-stick myself. So I did what I have always done in the past and I made a plan. I’m going to stick to this plan through September and, if I hate it then, I will change it. But I won’t sit anymore wondering what I should do because that is not living.
Saturday I sat down and finished reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and I need to review it before I start reading another book. I started the first workout of the first week of the couch to 5K plan. I despise running but I am going to give it a try. If I still hate it I will change it in October. I made a reading plan, an eating plan, and a new sleep schedule.
Even two days into my new plan I feel rejuvenated, renewed, and finally I feel like I am moving forward. So, I make my sad wrap-up for the Month of August in the hopes that my wrap up for September reflects my new plan in action.
Tell me, please!
How are you doing out there?
Silver Button Books 
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