June was stressful.

The end.

There’s only so much upheaval, change, and spur-of-the-moment this Gold, chaotic-good, INTJ-Architect can handle before she blows her top. And said top t’was blown.

It took me about two weeks to settle in mentally to the new house. It wasn’t the constant beep-beep-beep of construction vehicles, nor the endless boxes, or the equally endless bear sightings that did me in. Nope. It was the fact that I couldn’t (and still can’t) find my UV nail polish.

Well #$%^! How am I supposed to get home now? (photo: author)

I know, right? Even I think it sounds silly to blame my mental health on nail polish. But here we are.

A sample of my nail polish collection. (photo: author)

A long time ago, in a province far, far away, I discovered that the key to wicking away my anxiety was to focus on doing my nails.

Again, I know, right? Anxiety is weird that way.

Not being able to sit down and focus on the one thing I knew could keep my anxiety at bay made me even more anxious. I won’t bore you with the details, but as mentioned earlier, it took me almost two weeks to settle in once we moved summer of 2021.

Truer words have never been spoken. . . or written in chalk. (photo: author)

Once the ‘settle in’ took hold, the writing bug came back. You see, I typically thrive off my daydreaming and imagination to figure out plot points, character development, and world-building. However, mundane tasks such as cleaning or organizing produced nothing during those two weeks. Like, a literal black hole. Even at night when I’d try to dream, I’d be able to focus for a minute or two, then… nothing. It was so frustrating. I wanted to write but I couldn’t.

I knew what was getting in the way, so out of desperation, I went online and bought some nail polish. It took two days to arrive, but once I did, I sat down, did my thing, and came back with a fresh manicure. It mani-cured what blocked my writing.

You don’t actually want to see a picture of my nails, do you? (photo: author)

Here I sit, shaking my head. My mental health is all in my head, and I know what, but what’s even worse, is that my brain is more stubborn than I am. Who knew. Paint nails equals creative block lifted.

Camp NaNoWriMo is just around the corner, and what better way to firm up that writing need with a goal to meet. I tend to work best when there’s a goal to hit, rather than just sitting at my computer and pounding away at the keys like some deranged woodpecker until a story comes out. Although I don’t plan to work on a single novel, I do plan to crank out another 50,000 words to make up for writing almost nothing for June.

The urge to write is once again coming out of hiding. The ideas are flowing. Between the boxes and the mess, I’m carving out my writing time and creating a few new habits and routines. Being in my own place and having my own space definitely put a cramp in my writing style. I look forward to pounding away at the keyboard again!

Until next time,

  • Rissa