Hey Crickets. Welcome to day number fifty-eight of Operation Achieve Anything which also happens to be non-birthday eve for this leap year baby. I think this is going to be a quick post since both the assignments I’m here to report on don’t have me all that inspired, plus I just want to get through my obligations in order to curl into a ball and continue to enjoy this annual period of reflection.

I know I’ve been focusing a lot on the fact that I’ve been in a bit of a funk since I caught the flu a couple of weeks ago, thinking the illness may have ignited an early start to my traditional week of birthday reflecting, but to me, I don’t always see a reflecting funk as bad. It’s like how sometimes, you just need to watch a depressing movie in order to get an artistic taste of all of the flavors of life.

Sorting through these old memories often inspires new ideas as I work through the past, so rather than rather than fight my feels in order to force myself to be happy, as long as I’m not downright depressed, I opt instead to ride it out especially when I have a finishing date to aim for. Having a specific end date is important because it reminds me that even when I’m not allowing myself to just lay around and reminisce about my regrets, like a controlled burn, the darkness is temporary and I do actually have control.

The other thing to remember is that the regrets, reminiscing and reflecting are only part of the process when it comes to these dark moods. The other part is the distracting thoughts that come to me in an effort to get myself out of my head. This is where a lot of my stories are born. Right now, I’m building the outline to an idea that’s been brewing since the start of this latest stint.

So, when I said I was going to rush to finish my work to curl into a ball, that’s more for comfort while I fantasize than to get into a position to cry. The only problem that I have with this process is how I feel it looks to the outside world, especially during this time where I’m not working much so I feel a need to be extra productive with my personal projects to justify my life.

Well, that turned into way more of a post than I expected, now let’s get into these assignments. First, for yesterday's tasks, I was told to think of ways that I can turn my burdens into opportunities, using the quote, “You never know house a horse will pull until you hook him to a heavy cart,” to highlight how you need to see someone pushed to the max to see there true approach towards work.

I agree with the idea behind this quote as I always work better under the pressure of having too much to do, or when I’m when I’m really pushing a deadline. The problem is, with the goal that I want to achieve, I don’t see the tasks involved as things that are all that burdensome at all. Most of the things that I find to be a burden at this time are mainly emotions and thoughts, which I also already turn into opportunities by using turning my problems into fictional tales in my efforts to work through them.

It turns out, my longer than expected intro also ended up unexpectedly working into this assignment. It’s funny how things like that work. I think the fact that I shared how I already use the techniques suggested in yesterday’s lesson and plan to continue to do so is enough to fulfill the assignment, so, now I’ll switch gears and delve into the task at hand for today.

Today’s assignment takes us back to day forty-seven where I was given the Six Rules to Get People to Like You which mainly focused on getting the person in question to feel that you actually like them first, or at least have a genuine interest in them. Today’s assignment is more of the same where the book wants me to continue to treat other nice without expecting anything in return.

This is another assignment with no real direction so, whatever I manage to come up with for tomorrow update is going to be a surprise to both of us. We’ll see what happens but until then it’s now that time for me to sign off as usual by saying, good day and good luck to you and all of your projects.

 Talk to you soon.

Sincerely,

The Wicker Breaker

P.S. Below are links to my novel, which I plan to promote as part of Operation Achieve Anything, as well as a link to where you can buy the book that is providing the structure to this project in case you would like to purchase it in order to play along.