#19 Hands up if you are a workaholic

an alien Sicilian beach

My name is Rochelle, and I am a workaholic. Ever since I can recall, I have been heaping unrealistic workloads and expectations onto myself.

I find something I like and then do ten times more than required. There are so many examples from my life. Off the top of my head, I will have to prepare an ESL lesson one lesson; I spend an hour online and find enough material for a whole ESL course.

I need to make lunch daily; I fill the freezer with prepared meals for months and gather enough recipes and shopping lists for the rest of the year.

I help my son with his homework; I get him to study the whole chapter, then teach him the entire curriculum, watch documentaries and give him a reading list.

I want to write a travel memoir about Sicily; I spend years writing and proceed to read everything ever written about Sicily in Italian and English (except recipe books, because they aren't that relative to what I want to write and dozens are published every year.)

I decide to put less pressure on myself as a writer and start a weekly newsletter. I'm now writing nearly 3,000 words in my different newsletters. Every week I turn my notes into blog posts, start an advice column about travel in Italy and begin studying an online course about copywriting.

No wonder I'm overwhelmed.

But I've always done this to myself. I like doing many things all at once; it's a challenge.

I hyper-fixate, as most creatives do.

I have to; otherwise, I'll never find the motivation to write and finish a project.

I hate to be long-winded, so that I will stop here now.

I'll keep trying to write something worthwhile, well thought out and new here every week, perhaps more often if I get in the zone.

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