Walking home from an amazing Drag show last night, feeling the joy of a Halloween well spent, I had time to reflect on all the changes I've been making and all the work I've been doing in the past few days.
See, I've always been passionate about horror, and Halloween is my favorite holiday, so people kind of expect that I'd go all out on decorations and my costume. I certainly want to, but every year I have grand ideas that I am usually too late to make in time for Halloween. I struggle with planning and time management, and on top of that, I get overwhelmed very easily. Often the things l love the most (crafting and horror) quickly become overwhelming when given a strict deadline (Halloween). In the last few years, I didn't put any decorations up or do anything fun, which was pretty depressing.
Anyway, I've been working on taking better care of myself and not letting my overwhelming pile of projects lead to burnout. I'm definitely a work in progress—I still end up frozen and unable to function from time to time, but things are much better, and I'm managing my time better.
Because of all that work I've been doing, my recent impulse decision to make a YouTube channel instead of working on my large pile of works-in-progress, scared me a little bit. I'm still working on my full business plan, and was torturing myself over whether or not it was a good idea to combine my writing side with my crafting side. As expected things didn't really go according to plan, and I didn't finish my Halloween video before the tiny monsters came to threaten us for sweets. So I stopped editing, handed out candy, and even went to a party late into the night.
On my way back from the party, in the perfect quiet of the night, I realized it didn't matter that I didn't finish the video. I made things this year! I didn't spend Halloween feeling like I failed.
I made a giant spiderweb. I wrote a short story that a friend used in their Halloween installation (see video at the end of this post). Jesse put up lights so monsters could find us. We put up a canopy so we could sit outside even though it was pouring rain, and, of course, the karaoke drag show was the cherry on top! Through creating I had all these lightbulb moments, which would not have happened if I kept ruminating and losing sleep over a silly business decision. Taking time to do something I enjoy, not missing out on trick-or-treaters just so that my YouTube video would be finished (It's my first YouTube video, no one will see it anyway!), finding Joy in Halloween again; this is what actually helps me.
I'd been spending so much time comparing myself to other amazing artists on social media that I had lost myself. Doing videos of my work, documenting, and posting on social media- I'd been avoiding it, but I realized I can use it as a tool to remind myself that I AM creating, and I CAN find my own voice as a writer and artist. So that's what Moody's Multiverse is for, following my creative bliss, and letting go of perfection so I can find more joy in my life.
Now, please enjoy this video that shows off the amazing project my friend made. They put up a phone booth and when kids answered the phone, they would hear a spooky story on the other side. I got to write one of the stories, and hearing it spoken by a wonderful narrator had me happy dancing around the house. Phone Booths by Kit Sczudlo and Voice Over by generallyCobalt.
*I feel I must add a note of annoyance that I could not simply embed the YouTube video and instead had to upload directly to the site because Wix doesn't work with YouTube Shorts, and YouTube is forcing all videos under three minutes to be Shorts. It's a minor annoyance, but HARUMPH I say!
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