Where did the last week go?
Wow, where did last week go? I have been writing like a madman, just not on here. I jumped back into dissertation writing mode. I have kept up with my normal routine, just replaced writing here with writing my dissertation. I picked a bug yesterday, was lounging on the couch feeling icky, and thought, 'When was the last time I posted?
So here I am this morning, making sure to get back at it. Was life that busy that I had no time for this, not quite that busy, but enough for me to think, I’ll do it later, and later just led from one distraction to the next. Appointments, the furry kiddos, keeping up with daily life, chores, and visiting kept me busy enough to think, "I'll get to it later," with "later" never happening.
Now that I am here writing this, I am reminded of something I wrote in the 1/14/26 Journaling. I must focus on lowering my daily distractions. Changes I made were turning off the notification pop-ups on my phone and setting up focus while working on my computer to avoid them as well. Do I really need each and every email notification, or the constant barrage of other notifications I receive? Nope.
Yet day-to-day life, appointments, trips to the airport, household chores, working out, visiting with friends, getting work done, and my dissertation responsibilities still caught up with me. There are two things I accomplished this week that I feel wonderful about!
I reworked and updated my vision board! Created new images for it using ChatGPT! I have been thinking about spending some time on it, but did not want to spend the money on a bunch of magazines to cut them up, and it can take a lot of them to find what you are looking for! So, I told ChatGPT the images I wanted and uploaded myself and my household to make the images for the board as personal as possible! Yep, I love it, and have been reflecting on it!
What did I learn this week? I do not have superpowers that could add more time to the day, and sometimes it is okay to redirect your focus to something that requires your attention. Just remember to get back to your commitments and honor yourself, that is the short and sweet of it! Now I am off to add some more to my dissertation!
~ Missy
