So the first thing I should probably say is that this post is entirely for myself. I'm pretty sure no one even remembers when Loving the Language of Literacy was a blog. It's 5:30 pm GMT on a Tuesday afternoon and I have a few things to say. The first probably being that an actual February wrap-up will be coming your way on this blog. As I said when I put Loving the Language of Literacy on an indefinite hiatus, the one thing I will always post here are my monthly wrap-ups as they are a concise way to see exactly what has happened as well as what my current interests are at the moment, and as a teenager, that's probably one of the most important things.
What I have always said without an exceptions is that I will always be a reader and any old slump isn't going to squash that. I've also always said I would do BookTube indefinitely until I no longer had the time or interest to invest in my channel. That being said, since posting my first video in October of 2014, I have never really had a BookTube slump. Of course, there have been the months where I'm absolutely swamped, but in those cases, it's always been a situation where I wanted to, but just didn't have enough time or energy in a day.
Right now? It's a different case altogether. I started the year off strong as you normally do, but starting in February and most definitely carrying on until now, I have just been extremely uninspired in terms of reviewing, tags, and discussions, all the things I would have adored blabbing on about for half hour chunks at a time.
However, this also doesn't mean that I haven't been doing things. In my last post, I Choose to be a Full-Time Student, I speak about my new obsession and hunger for knowledge and learning languages. A preface for all of this would be nice. I am in Oxford, England until the end of March for my parent's sabbatical. It's been a fully immersive cultural as well as educational experience and no matter how much I moaned and groaned about it initially, I've learned to love, appreciate, or at least understand life here. With that said, my time here has been spent doing so many more things I either didn't have to or have interest in whilst I was in the United States.
The first being is school work. My teachers back home sent me to England with a nice (take that with whatever sarcastic tone you would like) suitcase full of workbooks and other study material to keep up with the curriculum while I'm here. When you add in the school work from my school here in Oxford, you come to realize that I'm spending 7+ hours of day in school and commuting home, and then making a dent in all the work I was sent here with.
The next item on my daily to-do list that seriously rivals my TBR length at times is my language study. This includes French, Spanish, as well as writing in plain old English. I have won NaNoWriMo early two years in a row, I know how much hell I put my sleep schedule, my school work, and BookTube duties during that time. While I'm in no way saying my current studies require the same time and energy commitment, everything adds up.
I guess where all of this really started was almost an entire month ago. My school here in England made my schedule in such a way that my hands were really tied for getting even the essentials on my to do list accomplished. There was a week of February break, the majority of which was spent road tripping around the english countryside. Upon my return to school was five major tests that required my full attention. Following that was a week of work experience, an incredible program they have in place across Europe where students receive a week or two off of school and working in 9-5 jobs to get experience as being part of the workforce. That leads me up to the present day where I'm staring down the calendar, wondering how on earth we're already almost a third through the month of March and a bit worse for wear in terms of where I should be on all the schoolwork for New York.
And then as of recently comes my latest obsession. I am in no way making false claims of OCD, but I will say that I have always had obsessive tendencies. I call it passion, others around me call it "dedicating way too much of my time to it or talking about it." My latest obsession happens to be auditioning for my school's spring drama production. Yesterday, I was texting my friend Ella and she was genuinely surprised with the amount of passion I had for it and said to me, "I didn't even know you liked drama so much." I had to pause for a second because I didn't even know I liked it to this degree either and that's when I knew I was invested in another project.
Aside from everything I have mentioned in this post, daily priority wise, I'm spending the month of March reconditioning myself into the swing of running - a three to four time a week time commitment- in preparation for the mountain goat again which I am quite excited about. With reading, writing, household chores, keeping up with friends and family from home, my schoolwork from Oxford and New York, it's a wonder this slump hasn't happened earlier.
Now comes the question? What do I do about it? Honestly and currently... the plan is just to hang on for the month of March and see where April takes me in all aspects of my life. I could be completely swamped with making up work my teachers didn't send me with to England. I could be attending rehearsals several times a week if I get a part in the play. I will be running or cross training four or five times a week in preparation for the Mountain Goat. I will also be participating in National Poetry Writing Month along with a little video project I have been cooking up and all the last minute prep work that will entail. I will also be home again with my glorious bookshelves which means a ton of reading of the books I couldn't bring with me to England.
In short, I started this post extremely frustrated with my current situation but have come to the conclusion I had already made for myself before leaving the United States for this terrific journey. I need to live in the moment and appreciate the last three weeks I have here. I most definitely need to finish that schoolwork from New York *raises eyebrow* I have been productive with my days and been accomplishing meaningful tasks as well as pursuing my passions. And I need to accept the future will do whatever future-y thing it decides.
Life will go on no matter how much bitching I do about it.
Tell me in the comments below what your opinions are with the post, how you utilize your time, how to "do it all," and any other thoughts you have.
