So, this week I promise to complain less. I’m still not back to feeling normal, but I feel better than when I wrote last week’s update. Sickness kicked the door in at our house. Whatever one person catches normally works its way through the whole house by the time it leaves, no matter how much I try to not spread germs. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everyone else doesn’t feel as bad as I have. I’ve had the most random string of symptoms and I still have no idea what it was. It started last Saturday with body aches, then after a few days that went away, but then it seemed like I had a stomach virus. After that subsided some, my throat hurt so bad and my uvula was so swollen I could barely talk because it was so uncomfortable.

Then, on Friday we had to pick my ten-year-old up from school early because they weren’t feeling well and had a fever. We ended up going to urgent care early Saturday morning and they tested positive for strep, but I didn’t, so I don’t know where I caught whatever I had. I barely leave my house, so it’s a mystery to me. I assume they caught strep at school, but thankfully they gave us both antibiotics even though I didn’t test positive, so maybe that will help my mystery sickness too. My ten-year-old was back to feeling mostly fine on Sunday and the doctor cleared them for school Monday since she said they wouldn’t be contagious anymore after starting the antibiotics.

So that’s been a large part of my last week, battling being sick and trying to get well, but another part was reading. I know, big surprise there. I’m always reading, but I finished the book I mentioned last week (Drive, By: Kate Stewart) and I finished the sequel (Reverse) and the small novella (Bittersweet Melody) that came after that. They were all so good! I may write a separate post about them, but I haven’t decided yet. I have a huge TBR (To Be Read) pile that I feel like I will never get to, especially because I always want to reread my favorite books instead of new ones. I’m trying to refrain from rereading anything until I get through a decent amount of the books I haven’t read yet.

I usually track my reading with Goodreads and Story Graph. I love how Story Graph breaks down everything, so if you’re looking for an app to track with, that one is pretty cool. It tracks by genre, mood, pace, pages, etc. I really wanted to set a reading goal for myself this year, so at the beginning of the year, I decided to challenge myself to read fifty books by the end of the year. I checked my progress and I’m only at twenty-seven books, so I’m about three books behind schedule, but that isn’t too bad. I know I can still get fifty in by the end of the year. I love reading, so it’s easy to fly through books.

I’ve seen some debate about whether or not to count audiobooks towards a reading goal, but I think it’s silly not to because that’s the only way some people can “read” books. Not everyone can see, for one, but also not everyone has the opportunity to sit down and read for hours. Some people may only have the opportunity to listen while they are doing something or driving to work, and I don’t think that makes them any less of a reader. I love audiobooks most of the time. Sometimes there will be a terrible narration that ruins a book for me, but usually, that’s not the case. I almost always have an audiobook that I listen to in the shower or when I’m cleaning or doing something where I can’t read, so I still count those towards my goal. The audiobooks usually take me much longer to finish than if I’m reading since I only listen to them at random times, but I still enjoy them and think that they are part of my reading goal.

I know that was a little bit of a random tangent, but it was something I was thinking about this past week when I was checking how many books I’d read so far this year. Another thing I’ve thought about, something I always think about, is my own books. I need to kick my butt into gear and work on them again. I’ve also played around with the idea of a new book lately, but it’s something that I’m not sure I want to dive into. I have to think on that one a little longer, but I should probably focus on the already written and partially written ones first. Does anyone else get some renewed sense of motivation after being sick? I get that a lot of the time when I start getting well after feeling like I’ve been knocking on death’s door.

For some reason, once I started to feel a little better, I suddenly wanted to get my crap together and start all the projects I had been avoiding. Maybe it has something to do with feeling terrible and being physically unable to do anything, and then realizing I regretted not taking advantage of being able to do things when I could. Like I took my ability to do things for granted. I think that’s something to think about. Maybe we need to give ourselves a little push sometimes to get things done when we actually have the opportunity and ability to instead of allowing ourselves to procrastinate because we could get sick or something could happen where we may not have the opportunity to do that particular activity for a while or ever again.

That’s my takeaway from the week. I will try to procrastinate less and actually try to accomplish more when given the opportunity. I know that won’t always happen, and that’s okay. Rest and letting our bodies recuperate is still a priority. I think it’s about finding a good balance between the two. Make sure to take time to relax, but let’s also use some of our free time for the projects that we love and want to make happen. I hope you all have an amazing week and find time for your projects sometime this week!

XXXX(All Kisses),
Summer