Show up, do your job.

Elizabeth Gilbert suggested in her TED talk that we (artists) should think about our creativity, our "genius," as an external disembodied entity that exists outside of ourselves. I am not a fan of the entire concept of a muse, I am more of a mule, but she also suggested that regardless of whether or not we are inspired, we need to show up, and do our job. I have been struggling lately, and this is an attempt to show up, and do my job.

This February has been very hard. As I've said before, I am normally a proponent of getting outside, and being active, regardless of the weather, but this has been a record breaking cold month with multiple snow storms. It has literally been inadvisable to be outside for any length of time, and I do not have the appropriate outerwear (nor the money to purchase new outerwear) to go outside, and exercise when it's -20F. So, I've been stuck indoors, and that has been a setback.

I have been "depression eating" for the past 7 to 10 days, and I don't feel like getting out of bed. I don't want to laze around the house, I want to hibernate, and, I've been fighting nasal congestion since Christmas which is making my pillow all the more tempting. I have been able to get to the gym three times per week, but not the four to five I'd prefer, and as for my low-intensity walks outdoors, well, it's been so nasty that getting from the house to the car requires courage and determination.

Most importantly to moving ahead, I have not been writing. There are reasons for this that go beyond procrastination, and those reasons aren't going to change for at least another year. To be plain, when you're writing about food, nutrition, and fitness, there is a kind of pressure to be endlessly enthusiastic about the subject. I am enthusiastic, but there are times when I neither feel like cooking, nor eating well, nor getting out of my chair to go to the gym. The reality is that I need to do it anyway, and again, show up, and do my job.

Next week is March break for hubby, and we're too broke to make any plans, so I'm hoping to hit the gym every day. I am also planning to get ahead with baking bread, and a couple other "freezer-filling," for those times I just can't, or don't want to make a healthy meal. We are also going to be making a batch, or two, of hot process soap.

More on the baking and soap making to come...