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Monday, December 09, 2024

Weekly Goals, Week 50: The Cost of Caregiving

Last week definitely didn't go as I thought it would.  I was hoping to catch up on housecleaning and get back to work on organization projects and doll projects, but instead we ended up just doing the bare minimum of things to survive.  Izzy also took a turn for the worse later in the week, ramping up our stress as well as the amount of time we spent caring for her.

Today I've been thinking a lot about the cost of caregiving.  It claims a substantial chunk of your time to take care of an animal (or person), and the result ends up feeling like you're simply transferring some of your energy and health to them.  It's exhausting, physically and emotionally, to take care of them, plus the stress itself is exhausting as well.

Take today, for example.  I'm squeezing this blog post in between giving Izzy fluids and feeding her again.  Everything has been taking so long that there has been less time between Izzy-things to address me-things.

Somehow, in all of that, I've managed to work on my new novel almost every day.  I'm still in the planning stage but I think I'm about ready to start writing.  I'm not a big planner, so I'm just sketching out the basics such as main plot points and character information, and the rest will get filled in as I write.  This is more of the way I usually do things, unlike Amnesia, which I started with only an opening scene in mind and absolutely no idea of where I wanted to take it.

As for this week, I'm expecting poor productivity, just overall.  We have Izzy's vet appointment tomorrow, and I'm afraid we won't be getting good news, in which case I won't feel like doing much else.  I also have plans to ride Friday midday and babysit Friday evening.

I have my usual calendar mess of goals, but in general, this is what I want to accomplish this week:

  1. Work on my new novel almost every day
  2. Clean something
  3. Organize something
  4. Work on a doll

You'll notice my goals aren't super complex this week.  I don't care what I clean, as long as I do something.  I don't care what I organize, as long as I make some progress, somewhere.  I don't care how much work I do on a doll, as long as it's something.

I feel like lower standards for yourself are another thing that tends to happen when you're focusing on caregiving.

Wish me luck.  I have a feeling it's going to be a hard week.

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