I’m Feeling Exhausted And Burned Out (And So Close To The Finish Line)

Close the finish. A brief context to set expectations.

Close the finish: Quick notes

I don’t know why, but I feel like this year has really taken it out of me more than any year prior. Every year around this time, I feel myself longing for that end-of-year break, but this year, I feel like I’m crawling to the finish line, completely parched and gasping for air. This year just feels different from others.

Overall, I know that I’m very close to having our bedroom suite finished. Being so close to the finish line, I should feel highly motivated to get that project finished. And while I’ve been working every day and making progress, I feel like I’m doing so begrudgingly. Never in my life have I felt more like I need a long vacation away from our house, but as you know, because of our situation (or more specifically, Matt’s situation) that’s not even a possibility.

So I’ve decided to take a longer end-of-year break this year. I know that’s kind of a bummer since it leaves us all on a bit of a cliffhanger. That’s not my intention. I’m not trying to be like the writers of a TV show who intentionally leave the viewers on a cliffhanger at the end of a season and make them wait until the next season to see if their favorite character has died or managed to make it out alive. 😀

But obviously, there’s no way for me to finish our bedroom before the end of the year. So I’ve decided to finish out this week, and then take a two-week break (instead of my regular one-week break) before resuming in the New Year.

I’ve made a lot of progress this year that I’m really proud of. I’ll do a final recap of this year in a rare Saturday post in two days. I looked through my list of goals for this year to see how much I had accomplished, and I was actually very pleased with my progress this year. So I think after a two-week break, I’ll be ready to hit the ground running again.

I won’t be taking a complete break on project during my break. I don’t think I could go two weeks without a creative outlet, and working on projects is my creative outlet. But I’d also like some extra time to focus on things that I haven’t had much time for this year, like making jewelry or maybe finding a fun art project to work on. I need some small, fun, easy projects that don’t necessarily have anything to do with our bedroom suite.

So I’m going to finish out this week and try to get as much done as possible on the bedroom. Today, I plan to get as much done on the draperies as possible. And then that will be it for me until Monday, January 5th. And then in the New Year, I’ll pick up right where I left off, with the bedroom, get that finished, and then move on to the next project. For me, that will be tackling the bathroom in the studio — a project that was abandoned a while back when I had planned to turn it into a walk-through pantry.

But now that our plans for this area have changed, I need to get this bathroom finished. So this will be the first project I focus on after the bedroom suite is finished.

In the meantime, my contractor will be working on turning the hallway bathroom into a storage closet, and I’m sure that will require some work on my part as well after they have everything removed, new drywall installed, and get the hot water heater installed in there.

So those are the first projects I have planned for the beginning of next year after I take a much-needed two-week break. But for the next two days, I will stay as focused as possible on the bedroom suite. I hope to get at least two of the drapery panels for the bedroom finished and hung by the end of the day. So fingers crossed that today is a productive day!

Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.

Close the finish comes up here to connect ideas for clarity.