moh-tuh-vey-shuhn, noun, from the medieval latin mōtīvus

Uhhh, you know how bloggers, lots of bloggers, get into a rhythm and a schedule? Like they post every day and they plan ahead and work it all out? This is not one of those posts. I just needed someone to talk to.

I am really flagging when it comes to my personal motivation lately. I have a reading list the size of Mars and the end of summer is looming ALREADY and I can’t summon the energy to clean the apartment or empty my inbox or study or ANYTHING. I want to be successful, I want to buckle down and get stuff done. But right now I feel like I’m just watching the calendar pages floating away like they do on old Saturday morning cartoons and I just want to stop the clock for another five or six weeks. WHEW.

I just needed to get that out there into the universe. This weekend, I plan to clean the apartment until it squeaks. And then maybe that reading list will seem more manageable somehow. I just can’t think inside the mess.

Alright. Make me feel better. What helps you get re-motivated when you’re in a slump?

love, elizabeth

The Ritual

Every time we finish a cycle of illness in our house (you know…the thing where Kyle gets sick and then I get sick and then we’re both sneezing buckets of snot, hacking up our lungs, stock-piling mountains of used tissue, and reaching desperately for another dose of Day-Quil), I have this ritual. It’s a little like an exorcism, but more cheerful.

The Howard Hughes in me imagines little cold-germies infesting our apartment. I freak out. And then I do this.

I scrub every conceivable surface with anti-bacterial wipes.

I replace our toothbrushes.

And our contact lens cases.

And our sheets and pillowcases.

I light a candle. And I thank God that head-colds don’t last forever.

love, elizabeth