The Motivation Myth.

Hi Beloved,

Hope you're doing well? How's the new month going? Real answers, mate🌚

I’m two days late again, and it seems this is becoming an habit🥺 I promise you I have a legit reason. I had a problem with my system and I've been trying to get it fixed for a while. I haven't exactly been in the headspace to socialise but I made you a promise. And if there's one thing I take seriously, it's promises. In fact, I almost never make them unless absolutely necessary. Another propelling factor was that there's never going to be a perfect time when I'll get my mood right to write to you.

One thing I've learnt over time is that when you aren’t feeling motivated, do the easiest thing first and get it out of the way. For that reason, I wrote the Gist session of this newsletter first as that was a little bit fun to write.

I was stuck on what to shalaye to you, as I’m not exactly feeling bubbly and excited as I usually am when writing my newsletter. But this constitutes one, so if there's anything I'll like you to take away from today's mail, it's this. Motivation is a myth. You cannot always be 100% motivated to do what you have to do, yet that shouldn't stop you from doing it.

Sometimes, motivation could be the pride you take in the work you’ve done, fueling your willingness to do more. To get myself into the perfect headzone to write this, I went over the last couple mails I sent you. I saw couple errors but the mails spoke to me too. I marveled at my past positives and gems that were in the letters, and I brought the energy here.

Having to wait for motivation to get to work or get something done is really just you procrastinating on showing up, and as showing up is half the magic, you gotta get rid of the inertia and let your magic on. Bring forth and show the world your magic, Beloved.

joie de vivre✨ @Amamayoyo

there's no perfect time. quit playing.

If you know of any friend who might find this useful, share with them. We share goodness in this house.

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Gist

A great thing about this newsletter - apart from your replies which I love and look forward to - is that it allows me monitor my progress twice a month. I am able to think of and share what I've been up to within the 14/15 days between each mail, and it's been really helpful.

For the past two weeks however, I fear I might have a bit of bad luck. My system has bailed on me and despite all my best efforts to get it fixed, it's unfixable. To say I've been frustrated is painting it mildly. Especially in this period where I've literally got nothing major to do but to write and read. I borrowed my cousin's to use last week - and he was such a sweet soul he came to deliver it himself (thank you Jaanu❤️) - and that's where I'm typing this from. I'll have to return it today so I'll be left system-less for a bit. I hope I find a way around it soon. Otherwise, I might just download TikTok and go have fun 😂

I have some good news tho. I was longlisted for the Punocracy Prize for Satire 2020. My entry was the first piece of satire I ever wrote so I'm pretty excited. I'm crossing my fingers hoping to make the shortlist, as that'll be really pleasing.

On active writing, well apart from this mail to you, I have only been doing freelance work and not a lot of personal writing in the last couple weeks. And yeah, that's because of my broken down system. It's extremely tedious writing on my phone and Google voice typing is not very responsive to my accent 🥴

If you're a writer, there's loads of magazines and journals open right now that you might want to send your work to. It was almost like the floodgates were open on the 1st of September. Can't plug them all here, but I'm sure you'll find them on twitter or you could just Google them.

I've finished Animal Farm by George Orwell and I'm currently reading Beloved by Toni Morrison. Binge-watching TV series is like my second work these days. I've finished 'The Handmaid's Tale' which I highly highly highly recommend (in fact, I'll be reading the book it was adapted from soon iA), Modern Love, Euphoria and I started Biohackers last night. I'll probably switch to a med series after this, at least it'll kinda simulate my pre-corona life🌚

What have you been up to, Beloved. Share with me, I love hearing from you.

With Love and everything nice,

Maryam.

PS: one of my younger sisters has been sleeping in my room for a couple days now, and my glasses has had its lens popped out twice. My midnight snacks finishes even before 10pm. Not a coincidence. Children, no matter their age or how cute they look, are crackheads idc😅