I’ve been down this holiday season. I don’t fully know what’s going on, but I’m at least still enjoying getting lost in reading books.
The weather doesn’t seem to be helping. First, we had a cold snap and then it just got so gray. I’m staying inside too much with little access to sunlight.
I also have started favoring work over everything else. That’s a recipe for burnout, and I’m feeling that hard. My partner took action on this and is helping me to figure out what a better balance looks like. That will always be a process, as it is for everyone. But as we have focused on that this week, I’ve started feeling better.
Taking care of your mental health is such a vital part of being effective at your job as well as enjoying your life. Having this week to reorganize and refocus has really underlined that for me, and I definitely have a plan to move forward with fewer bumps in the road. Hopefully.
Reading Social Media News
I love this interview in PR Daily on using AI to get rid of repetitive tasks, so you can focus on the creative ones. People have been so focused on the “creative” aspects of it and trying to use it inappropriately to basically take the human out of content. It’s refreshing to read some great usages that are not doing that.
Broadcast channels are just the future of social media to me. The one-to-one interaction seems to be more attractive both to brands and fans. So if you are not investing in more of this one-to-one interaction, now is the time to get on it, especially with these new updates.
Reading Books, Books and More Books
Past
Thieving Sun by Monica Datta is a bit of an oddball book. It’s experimental in nature, and it skips around in a woman’s life as she deals with a central figure in her life. It’s not an enjoyable read, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. It was brutal and raw. I feel like I’m a bit in my brutal and raw stage of life, so I feel like something about this book is calling out to me. I wouldn’t say it’s the best book I’ve read this year. But it is an interesting book that I am glad I spent time with. I am also glad it’s done. Score: B
I was grumpy about reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It was for my book club, and it was a pick that was clearly out of character. I started reading it thinking that I would peace out at the first sign of boredom. Welp, I was dead wrong. This was a life-changing book. It gave me the vocabulary I needed to start formulating my own ideas on community. This is the first time in a long time I could say something like that about a book. I could have lived in this book longer. I am even feeling drawn to re-read it immediately (I won’t, but I really wanna). Score: A+
Present
Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger is the other book club book. It’s considerably lighter than my last two books, and I think that’s good for me right now. Will it be life-changing? Not likely. Will it allow me a time to breathe and just be? That seems more likely. So I shall curl up with it and hope for the best going forward. And maybe it will even surprise me.
What are you reading? What books are you looking forward to?