Saturday, December 23, 2017

What I Will Be Doing Instead of Writing a Play

Remember when Christmas was still a month away and I was freaking out because I thought I wouldn't have enough to do?  And then I decided that I was going to use some of my spare holiday time to write a play?

Hahahahaha.

Yeah.  About that.  As the holidays approached, my list of things to do slowly grew.  At the current time, I am absolutely committed to the following activities:

Dinner and a movie with my new friend tonight*
Christmas Eve dinner with family tomorrow night
Christmas Eve sleepover with my Mom
Christmas Day dinner with more family
Counseling session with my performance coach on Thursday**
French lesson on Thursday
Dinner and a show with friends at the Art Gallery on Friday

And this is with minimal effort actually put into making plans.  I still have a list of multiple other friends with whom I'm hoping to make plans in the next ten days.  I have made so many plans that I actually managed to double book myself for Friday night, and for the third year in a row I will not be attending my residency group's annual party.  (Is it surprising that an introvert would pick an intimate evening with friends over a big party?  Zero surprising.)

Until about a week ago, I was still thinking about writing a play.  But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a burden that I would resent, rather than a fun activity to keep me busy over the holidays.  And then I had an insanely busy week on call, which has left me with a desk covered in unfinished work, and I thought "nope".  No.  No play this year.  Rest.

Over the next ten days, I'm just going to recharge and get my life back on track.  I'm going to empty the dishwasher that has been clean since Monday and refill it with the week's worth of dishes that are on the counter.  I'm going to replenish my freezer stores so that I won't go hungry the next time I'm on call.  And I'm going to do a little (lot) of work stuff so that I will not feel too horribly overwhelmed when I go back to work.

And I'm going to do fun stuff!  I saved season two of Stranger Things, so there will be some serious binge watching.  And books.  And drinking peppermint hot chocolate.  And drinking all of the wine I couldn't drink while I was on call.  And sleep.  Glorious, glorious sleep.

It may not be the same as Christmas with my ex's family, but I think it's going to be lovely all the same.

*I made a new friend this year!  As an introvert who treats friends like precious heirlooms and keeps them forever, this is exciting.

**I need to write a post about this, because this has been life-changing.

8 comments:

  1. I am intrigued about the idea of a performance coach. I was told by a mentor that it might be useful for my the get one, he had one and he found it helpful. But when I went it seemed too much like therapy (and I found the coach incredibly off putting). How did you find this person, and what kinds of things do you get coaching on?

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    1. I found my coach through another female physician, whom I talked to last year when I was feeling really burnt out. He is a Clinical Psychologist who used to work with high-performance athletes, but he has transitioned into working with physicians and other professionals (police, firefighters, EMS, etc.). There is an element of therapy to what he does, because my biggest issue is anxiety, but he also focuses on really practical things to make work better. One of my friends deals with medical students in crisis, and she was struggling because they would email her 24 hours a day. He suggested she set up an autoresponse for evenings/nights with information on crisis lines so that she could sleep without feeling guilty/worried that she might miss something important.

      I will write more in a blog post someday!

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  2. A play is a big thing to write in 10 days, even if you are in the habit of writing such particularized fiction. I'm glad you decided to ease up on your plan. Your holiday sounds lovely, but full. And sleep is glorious.

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    1. I'm still hoping to write one in the future, and I think having a short time frame for a first draft would be very helpful for me. But Christmas holidays are not the time!

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  3. Wow that's a lot of events. Well, the Solitary Diner isn't so solitary after all. Ha. :-) Have fun and keep plugging away on the play. Those take time. Happy New Year.

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    Replies
    1. Ha! No, my life hasn't been very solitary lately. Which is good. All of the events are good.

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