In my last entry, I was struggling with my concentration and with executive function skills in general. I'd decided to try a couple of new coping mechanisms: swimming and going to the library. Both have helped tremendously. My swim workouts at the pool allowed me to burn off stress when it was too cold outside to go running. The library sessions helped me to stay on task and actually be productive. I'm at a point where I can focus at home fairly easily, so long as I wear headphones with white noise playing. I've also been running instead of swimming now that it's spring.
I've spent the past two months researching possible new careers. I'm most interested in environmental jobs. That could be tricky for me to get into since I don't have a degree in ecology, environmental science, or any science at all. Going back to school isn't an option right now. I'm also not good with people, which takes park interpreter and other people-y jobs off the table. So, I'm looking for other ways to get involved. I've signed up as a volunteer with a local conservation group. The planned events for this year include invasive species removal, garbage cleanup, and trail maintenance. They occasionally hire people, so I'm hopeful this could lead to an opportunity down the road. If nothing else, I'll at least find out if I enjoy that type of work or not.
In the meantime, I need a new paid job. My online gig has been terrible at paying me on time, and the work has dried up. I need to find a regular job in town, more freelance work online, or both. I can't make up my mind. My resume is a mish-mash of random things, which I fear makes me look unreliable or noncommittal. This has made the whole job-search process more stressful than it used to be.
My other source of stress is my upstairs neighbour. We became friends when she moved in last year. That was good for about six months, then it went downhill. It is now impossible to have a civil conversation with her. I ignore her unless we need to talk about common area stuff, like asking her to please not put garbage in my blue bin. I texted her about that yesterday. Her response was needlessly hostile. Later that same night, I came home and found her dog in my mudroom. It most definitely was not there when I left. I had left that door unlocked, but closed tightly. My neighbour had obviously gone in there. With my car gone from the driveway, she would have known I wasn't home, which means she wasn't knocking on my main door to talk to me. So what did she go in there for? I confronted her, and she said a bunch of stuff that made no sense and was obviously untrue. Then she called me a dumb bitch. So that didn't end well. I feel uneasy about the whole thing. I'm thinking of getting a security camera, or maybe filing a complaint with our landlord. And I'm locking both doors from now on, obviously.
In other news, I'm training for either a half marathon or a marathon this year. I'm waiting to see how my knee holds up before I decide which race to sign up for. I'm making some changes for this year's training cycle. I didn't run often enough with my previous training, so I'm going to increase my weekly mileage. I also didn't do enough strength training in the past, so I plan to do more of that this year. It's supposed to help reduce the risk of injuries. Finally, I've been learning how to improve my running form. And make sure my easy runs are easy enough. And include more speed workouts. I've been doing pretty much everything wrong, basically. So I'm eager to see how much of a difference these changes will make.
That's it for now. I never know how to end these things. I felt sort of "off" today, but I still managed to get some things done. I hope tomorrow will be more productive.