I'm midway through a two week break between jobs and, somehow, my reading pace has slowed considerably. If I step back and look at the situation, the primary cause for the slowdown is a confluence of multiple factors: a relaxation of constraints, new commitments, and the winding down of summer activities. I'm making pretty short work of my current read — it's relatively lightweight and an action story, so it flows quickly.

The summer activities have been anchored in my future parents-in-law staying with us for the summer. Earlier this year, they told my fiancée that they wanted to visit and escape the heat of southern China. After a bit of negotiation, they flew in a week after my graduation in May. It's very hard for me to put into words the whirlwind of emotions that has accompanied their visit, but most of those emotions have been good — the overwhelming preponderance of them are great! Hosting long-term guests is hard work and it's been harder for my fiancée, because I'm monolingual. I'm supremely grateful that we've been able to spend so much time together.

The time has overlapped with an uptick in parent-care for me. While not as substantial as it could be, I've spent some time attending to my parents' transport needs. One of the lessons of my forties is that our time together is short. I knew this in my thirties as I worked through my undergraduate and graduate programs, but I sure didn't internalize it well. The arrow of time does not reverse, though, so I just have to make better choices now.

Since I'm not working, I have fewer constraints on my daily schedule. The practical impact of that is that bad habits can explode out of small and into large time consumers. Specifically, this time around, it's short-form video. I have to take very conscious steps to drive short-form out of my life as assertively as I can. Otherwise, I will lose hours into nothingness. Helping me in this effort is the external works of folks contributing to Craig Mod's "The Good Place", which is part of his Special Projects community.

In the coming week, I'll be finishing the current read and finishing the "prep for work" book that I picked up yesterday from the bookshelf. The latter is about preparing for the first 90 days of a new job or role and how to make best use of that time. I'm early into reading it, but it was part of Harvard Business School's "So you're graduating, here's some stuff" gift basket. 

If I write more often, will it become easier?