Good morning crickets. Welcome to day number two-hundred-fifty-four of Operation Achieve Anything. Yesterday was my first Monday working the graveyard schedule that I recently started. It was really reassuring because, over the weekend, I was able to get ahead of my SNL reviews to where I am now a little over a day ahead of my schedule. This means that once I’m done with my walking and day job and six-thirty in the AM, I can quickly post said review before I head off to bed. Depending on whether or not I have the energy to write a Daily Breaker post before my slumber, it’s now possible for me to meet all of my deadlines before seven-thirty in the AM so that when I wake, I can then casually work on cleaning this site after finishing my SNL review for the following day.

I’m still a bit thrown off thanks to the randomness of my sleep, being that I’ve yet to fully settle into the schedule. That said, I can tell that once I get used to sleeping when the sun’s up again, I’ll be able to get a lot more things done without feeling the constant pressure of looming deadlines. Other than sensing a bit of an edge due to the sleep deprivation, I can already feel that once the walking and working portion of my day is done, I feel a sense of ease as I shift my focus and enjoy the rest of my day while working on personal projects.

This graveyard schedule is also really nice because there is way less chance for an unexpected visitor to get in my way. Not that I’m all concerned about this, I was just trying to crowbar in a transition into yesterday’s assignment where I was supposed to create a five-item list of things that I can do during the week that would be helpful for my friends. Unfortunately, I don’t really seem many friends these days so I’ll have to take this to mean how I can help my family whenever I do venture in from the garage.

I’m not sure if this is what the Achieve Anything… book is looking for, but here you are:

1. Don’t let my frustration with my failed life affect my time with others – I often notice when my nephew stops by I can sometimes get frustrated with him when really I’m frustrated with my work. The same thing can happen with the adults, where I will be in a mood for something they have nothing to do with yet they still have to deal with it.

2. Listen to them the way I’d like them to listen to me – This one can be tough especially considering the family aspect because more often than not, everyone in the room is just waiting to talk while only half listening to others. It also doesn’t help that I ramble around others, especially now that I do spend so much time on my own.

3. Acknowledge the positive things – I’m pretty good at this one because I do feel that no one appreciates me, so, as long as I’m still talking to a person, I try to make my appreciation known, even if I might be acting like a grouch.

4. Acknowledge the negative things – This is an area where I really need help because the enabling aspect of my family makes us really big on denial. This caused us to bottle even the smallest conflicts, leading to snappy outburst when the issues can’t be buried anymore. I’ve been concealing my feelings so much recently that I can sound snappy when I’m actually totally calm, at least toward the issue at hand.

5. Just be me – That’s all I’ve got for this one, even though I can’t stand the advice when it’s given by someone else.

Now, for today’s assignment, I’m supposed to create a poem, picture, or song that is inspired by my overall concept of friendship. This is going to be another rough one considering how the assignment says explicitly not to make it a mournful ode, which is, of course, where my mind first went. Oh well, we’ll see what I come up with for tomorrow's post when I check in with my next update. Until then, it’s now 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.