a personal challenge

image via weheartit

I've been thinking that what I need to focus on this week is a personal challenge. A challenge to step away from distractions and spend my time after work away from the couch. I have such a tendency after a work day to come home, lay around, eat dinner, but virtually do nothing. There are always things to be done: chores, cleaning, organizing, etc. But there are also things I need to do that are necessary for keeping me sane and embracing my creative spark. I lost that spark in 2014. I avoided writing and playing music (besides worship for church) pretty much the entire year. It saddens me that I've drifted so far away from the person I used to be. I used to write and record whenever I had a spare moment. Some of those tunes are still my very favorite. I lost confidence along the way, and let it go on until now. But I know it's not too late; change just needs to happen. I want to get my old self back.

Which brought me to this thought process: I am embarking on a challenge this week to come home from work and not pick up the remote or settle on the couch. I aim to pick up my guitar and, even if I have nothing to say at the moment, play  through my old favorites and revisit the times when I was a constant writer. I am going to finish reading the books I checked out of the library but just keep renewing because I don't make time to finish them. I am going to carve out a little time for chores that need to be done. I am going to let the DVR fill up and not watch it until the weekend. And secretly, I'm hoping that maybe I won't want to go back to television as a means of relaxation altogether. I want to equate my relaxed state with music and prayer and workouts and things that don't make me sedentary. I will allow myself to watch shows that my roommate and I view together at the end of a long day, but I won't be sitting in front of the TV for hours on end. Change is good, and in this case, change is necessary.