Mental Spring Cleaning

Hello!

First bit of news, I'm taking part in #MGBookMarch on Twitter, so during the month of March I'm answering questions about books and writers, particularly those of the middle grade variety. Check it out!

Also, I'll be attending the 2018 AML Conference at BYU from March 22-24. The theme is Humor and I look forward to going to the sessions there. I may also do a reading. Will keep you posted.

Anyway, on to the reason for this post:

It's spring!

Okay, it's not technically spring yet. But it is warm here in Utah today, and that's good enough for me.

Spring is a time of the year when I start to feel more alive, more awake, and more ready to do something good with my life. Ready to do some cleaning, both physically (my room needs it) and mentally. This spring, I realized that sometime over the winter I got a bit more easily annoyed than I have been, mostly over stupid, trivial things, and I want to fix that.

I have some plans, like refusing to voice annoyances, and implementing thought processes to check myself. I have a temper, and I like to keep it in control, and I'm just much happier when I manage not to let the stuff around me bother me more than I can handle. Or not at all, if it's not worth fussing about.

So today I'm going to, just once, write down a list of things that bug me, with the hope that once I write them, they'll be out of my system and I can focus on the good things, which I'll put in another list so I can get my focus straight.

Which means you get a catharsis entry today. I hope it's entertaining, all the same.

Things that bug me:

- People who drive under the speed limit in the left lane

- Insomnia, especially when I'm 3 hours into it and melatonin doesn't help fast enough
- Broken wheels on shopping carts
- Clothes chafing when I run
- ICE on the ground when I plan to run
- When the gym is so busy that there's always someone on the machine I need to use
- When the person on the machine is just sitting and texting someone

- When I forget that I had the volume up high on my laptop and I put in headphones and blast out my eardrums
- Finding an ant on my pillow
- People who enjoy antagonizing others
- My computer shutting down without warning to do updates (it always happens when I'm writing)
- Full parking lots
- Adulting
- The government failing to send me a needed tax form and then taking its sweet time to resend it when I asked where it was

- Writing, when it goes poorly
- Waiting. For anything, especially when it takes a long time.



Okay, that was actually helpful. Now for the positive things.

Things I always enjoy:

- Springtime, especially when the flowers start budding and the air smells like a garden
- Disney parks (I'm going to Disneyland in May!)

- Spending time with my family
- Chocolate, especially dark chocolate
- Reading a good book or trip to the library when I'm not rushed
- A delicious lunch, whether homemade or at a restaurant
- The one time a day (while in race training) that I get to eat a dessert

- Marathon training. Hard, but feels good
- My new fluffy pillow
- Music on my playlists
- Driving to that music
- Writing, when it's going well
- Being productive with my day
- Doing a crossword puzzle

- The view of the mountains from my window (at sunset)
- When the temperature is JUST RIGHT for a morning run
- When the waiting is over

Thanks, all, for letting me vent and realign. I hope it goes well, but you may have me again, next week, passionately griping about some story or other that blew it.

But I hope not. I'm seeing A Wrinkle in Time tomorrow, and I fully expect to like it.