#i have a lot of opinions about 7s translation but will keep them to myself on here

[count-von-kit]

A friend of mine calls it "drop everything and read".

For the last two weeks I decided to do this thing where, because of how stressful work has been, once I clock out at the end of my shift I mentally clock out as well. I work from home, so I stare at a computer from 8-5 doing data entry. I am also a writer, so add in the additional time of staring at my non-working computer from 5pm up through 11pm or sometimes even midnight. It's not entirely kind on the eyes, but also my attention span scattered quicker than the little dust sprites from Spirited Away. Between that and the frequent writer's block I decided to do something a friend of mine calls "drop everything and read".

I know the benefits of reading, especially as a writer. But I remember I was already apprehensive because it made me feel alone and isolated. In some instances it also felt like I was forcing that loneliness onto myself and using it as a not so great way to escape, as I once told my therapist. It felt obligatory and forced when I was doing it earlier this year - like I was doing it because "well everyone else is busy, so I guess I'll do this instead of sitting around waiting". But this time around I didn't feel that way. It was something I genuinely wanted to do. I genuinely wanted to experiment on myself, and make note of the changes. For context, in some cases my work gets to be stressful to where I have an inability to disconnect, and because of how I grew up it becomes extremely difficult for me to detach from such things at an emotional level and it kind of ruins the whole evening or weekend for me. I don't like to vent to my friends often, so most of that emotional distress gets bottled up. I decided in that instance that once I clocked out of work and tended to my household chores I would drop everything and read. From when I finish my chores right up through bedtime. You could view that as roughly 5-6 hours worth of reading time. My cat was very much a fan of me doing this because he likes to lay beside me, so there were very few cons when I decided, "Fuck it. Let's do this."

Far as results go, last week I noticed great benefits to my mood. Nothing shocking about that. This week, while I wasn't so lucky in the mood department, I was able to still feel accomplished in some degree. From Monday through Friday last week, and Monday and Tuesday of this week, I plowed through books 1-5 of MDZS [the core story, not counting the extra chapters]. Five books in a span of seven days. I found the only real downside was that I couldn't stop thinking of all the characters when I went to bed, and in some cases it made it difficult for when I wanted to daydream about my own stories. But as far as everything else went it left me feeling a bit better. I mean, outside of getting brushed off at work I did have the urge to sit down and work on my story. So that already shows me what I was trying to gain from my experiment.

I haven't noticed much else as far as if it has necessarily helped with lifting my frequent bout of writer's block. Normally I try to draft things by hand because I find myself too distracted at my personal computer which only adds to my struggles. But what I did notice is the will to write returning to me along with a kindling of inspiration. I feel nurtured in some way because of this. So as I gradually continue with this I am hoping to at some point finish more to my story and/or start posting my fantasy project. I guess we'll see where August takes me. Sometimes it's necessary to just give a middle finger to all the happenings and life, and drop everything to simply read. Work might be shit at times, but it cannot keep my from reading about my gays.