What Unpacking and Writing Have in Common and Update on Our Move

Dear Real Academics,

We have been unpacking our house for the last month.

Let me preface this by stating that prior to this move, all my other moves had been "college-student" moves, meaning, the most amount of boxes I have ever moved was 14. Yup 14 small boxes. Yup. No furniture and no car either. In my last big move, the car salesman met me at the airport.

Let's just say this move was different. 

Two large PODS later and 10 months of waiting on a house we are FINALLY in a house and FINALLY unpacking!

(Hey, if you didn't try to buy a house in 2022, then definitely check out this hilarious link to get a sense of what it was truly like...I literally cried tears of laughter when I watched it...but come back and finish this blog after you watch).

Here is my favorite picture of our move. Rocky, our rescue pup, is sitting outside the front of the house watching the first POD arrive.

I thought I'd be excited to unpack. In fact, everyone told me it would be like Christmas, especially since we hadn't seen our "stuff" in 10 months.

Well, you know what? Unpacking has NOT been like Christmas. In fact, in the midst of all this crazy setting up, I came up with a list of how unpacking and writing can be similar and how to work through the challenges.

Ready?

Here we go.

Writing is like unpacking in the following ways:

It's exhausting, mentally and physically. If you write, you know that writing can be exhausting. While you may not be sore from going up and down stairs and carrying boxes and items around, sitting in front of a screen can drain you physically in other ways. And unpacking may not be like "intellectual" work, but it involves like 10,000 decisions (at least, it feels that way) with each box I open.

It's super easy to procrastinate. Once my couch and TV and wi-fi were set up, all I wanted to do was sit and watch my favorite YouTube channels or Amazon Prime shows. Ever feel that way about writing? Would you rather be doing something else? Well, I sure did with the unpacking! (Side note: Ask me anything about setting up wi-fi in creative ways. We lived through a move at the cusp of the pandemic shut down and again at the cusp of a new community with, let's just say, other challenges to getting wi-fi).

It can be overwhelming. Have you ever had so many ideas, pieces of writing, or pieces of reading that you need to somehow string all together? Well, yup, unpacking can be that way, too! It can all feel like a big puzzle.

So, what are some remedies to these challenges? If you've been following me for a while, I may sound like a broken record, but it never hurts to be reminded of these time-tested strategies for managing challenging tasks like writing (or unpacking!).

Break down the task into small bits. Whether it's setting up goals to get different sections of your writing project done within different weeks/months or deciding to set up one room at a time...breaking things down is an important step to starting and not giving up. Of course, this involves giving yourself margin by starting and planning ahead of time.

Once you break things down, do things consistently in small bits of time. As I began unpacking, I didn't understand why I was SO tired suddenly until I assessed that I had literally been moving and thinking/making decisions for 5-8 hours straight on some days. Know what happened? I crashed and couldn't do anything the next day. I should have known. I constantly tell people to not do what I just described with regards to unpacking with writing. If you can avoid intense writing for more than 4 hours in a row, you'll be much more productive if you stop and pick up the work later.

Take breaks. Yes, it is OK to take a break from packing and sit on the couch. And, yes, it is OK -- and necessary -- to get up off of your writing chair and MOVE and BLINK. If you are not familiar with Pomodoro for productivity/writing, now might be a good time to check it out.

New to this and/or just want to read more about these topics? If so, browse our previous blog posts and check out more helpful ideas, links, and resources. We also have a YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@RealAcademics

Until next time, happy writing, productivity, and truth-seeking!

Maggie

www.therealacademics.com

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