29 September - Magazine News
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
This past week felt very fluid.
Brandon here, with an update that’s part weekly check-in, part monthly review. The blog post last week went out a day late, which makes it feel like this one came around in a flash.
Life has been busy, as usual. School and rehearsals for Alice in Wonderland took up a good portion of the week. My classes are going smoothly, but I’ve been struggling with my sleep schedule, often grabbing an extra hour or two in the morning. That’s likely why I was one workout short of my goal, though I’m still happy I got three in. Saturday was a marathon—running the Farmer’s Market booth in the morning and then heading straight to a long rehearsal.
Progress on the magazine was not what I’d hoped. My goal of finishing the drafts for the Myriad and Founder’s Note articles didn’t happen. Setting a target of 4-5 paragraphs was, in retrospect, a bit high for a week this packed.
Looking back, September as a whole felt like an extremely long month that somehow flew by. And if I'm being completely honest, it genuinely hurts to look at how little progress I feel I've made on the magazine. I wanted to have all the writing done by now, but life made that difficult. Getting cast in Alice at the end of August set a new kind of chaos in motion, and my schedule has been a moving target ever since.
But when I look at the whole picture, a different story emerges. This month has been one of my best for working out in a long time. I’ve kept up a decent diet. All my schoolwork is on track. I got cast in a second play. I started this blog.
For some reason, it brings to mind one of those polar scatter plot graphs, with different points out in every direction. While I wanted the 'magazine' point on that graph to have shot the farthest forward, I think I’m quite happy with the progress I made in every other direction. I may have been burnt out on writing, but I made good progress in almost every other part of my life.
And now, we’re in October. The chaos continues—our first show for Alice is on the 9th, and the week leading up to it will be intense. But as long as I keep making steady progress, I’m happy. The only way out is through.
Here are my goals for the month and the week ahead:
October Goals:
The Magazine: Finish it. All of it. Writing, proofreading, editing, and layout. It’s time to get this issue out into the world.
Health: Keep up the workouts, aiming for 4+ times a week consistently by the end of the month.
Learning: Keep up with school and my Arabic studies, with the goal of having the alphabet memorized.
Creative: Start rehearsing for Almost, Maine and finish the poster series I've been working on.
This Week’s Goals:
Roll over the goal of finishing the Myriad and Founder’s Note articles.
Get in four workouts.
Post 2-3 intentional pieces of content on social media. I often get stuck in analysis paralysis, trying to make things perfect. The goal this week is to just create, put myself out there, and be happy with it.
It’s a lot, but seeing it all laid out feels good. Thank you for being part of this process.
Best,
Brandon Tellez
Founder, Shoot the Breeze Magazine
