:: In.a.Mirror.Dimly ::

It has been a busy week in the Cyzewski household. No, we’re not training our rabbits for the House Rabbit Olympics.

That’s in the summer.

I’m approaching a couple of deadlines and so is my wife. Everything is a bit more hands on deck. And then last night I had this idea that sort of took over my mind. I don’t know if this ever happens to you, but when I have an idea for something I want to write, it becomes almost impossible to think about anything else.

It’s like, “Oh man, I could write about this hilarious situation, and then there’s ANOTHER hilarious thing that could happen after that!”

I need to scratch it all down or I’ll forget my ideas and spend the following day hating myself.

So I spent a good deal of yesterday brainstorming when I wasn’t working on my typical daily writing load. I stayed up late.

And you know what, today, I don’t have it. I don’t hate myself for squandering a few ideas, but I certainly don’t have it in me to write the kind of blog post I usually want to share.

Some days that’s OK.

I mean, if one post every week was an explanation for why I wasn’t posting, that would be super lame. I don’t want to make this a trend.

However, I think this is important to discuss at least once because if you’re hoping to do any kind of regular writing you’ll have these days where everything comes gushing out and you need to catch it all before you lose it. However, you can’t have a gusher every day.

So today I’m feeling a bit spent. It’s like my brain is recovering from a marathon.

As writers we spend so much time fearing that we’ll lose the magic. It’s like we fear that moment when we sit down and nothing comes out. “Have I lost it?”

Lost is too strong a word. Some days you have it, some days you don’t, and some days you need to work hard to find it.

If you want to write regularly without losing your mind, recognizing each of these three scenarios is vital in maintaining your sanity. I could try to push through today and write what I had planned, but some days you just need to wave the white flag of surrender.

It’s just one day. I’ll be back tomorrow, even if I need to push through to make it there.

How do you know when to give yourself a free pass and when to push through in your writing?

When trying to figure out what I should give up for Lent, I’ve decided to make a list of what I can’t live without and to pick one item from that list. However, this season I ran into an interesting twist.

I began to think of what I’m longing for—what I lack and desire but have not been able to find.

My list of things I can’t live without would include my computer, the internet, social media, coffee, nice pens, nice journals, etc. However, I realized that this Lent I needed to create some boundaries in order to cultivate space where certain things could happen that have not been happening lately.

I think my professional life has some decent boundaries in and of itself, but the problem is that my professional life has crept into my personal time. Since I’m working on writing and speaking full time, it’s very hard to know when to stop—and I rarely stop once evening comes.

My wife always looks at me in shock on the few occasions when I sit on the couch reading a book. That is not good.

I need to stop more. I need to create some boundaries from the internet and my work. I need sacred space.

While I admire those who are giving up social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter for Lent, my larger problem is when I fritter my time away on social media, blogs, and web stuff in the evening when I should relax, pray, read, or let a rabbit climb all over me. I don’t feel like these things invade my professional life too much, but they are a problem at home.

So this Lent I’m creating two boundaries.

The first is a space of roughly 20 minutes each day for worship. This means worship music, prayer, or whatever. Some of this needs to be time specifically set apart for worship without any other distractions, but I’m also planning to focus on playing worship music while working throughout the day.

The other is a 6 PM internet cut off time. After 6 PM I am not allowed online, save for the few occasions when I’ll have to check my e-mail for something important. Even then, I’ll only use my wife’s computer where I don’t have any social media or blog settings saved—and it’s frittering my time away on social media and blogs that I’m far more worried about.

It’s already been wonderful. I fought off the urge last night to go online, even if Lent hadn’t begun, and enjoyed reading and journaling for a few hours. One rabbit hopped onto my lap and furiously licked my jeans and the pillow next to me.

I have a feeling that Lent is going to be wonderful for my soul… and my rabbits.

This ad for Microsoft Office with Amy Sedaris may be one of the funniest commercials ever. And in case you’re wondering, there is a house rabbit society. We are members and rabbit owners.