While I love reviewing Christmas movies every year, it does get a little overwhelming by the time the new year rolls around. That is usually why the blog ends up falling to the wayside most of the year. I get overwhelmed, don’t know what to write after the Christmas season, get stuck in my head about what to write, then by the time I know what to write, it’s October and spooky movie season. In an attempt to avoid it this year, I have spent a little more time decompressing from Christmas movies. Here is how I have been spending my days:
Playing Dreamlight Valley. Yes, I am still playing Disney’s Dreamlight Valley. I don’t get a lot of time to play it during the Christmas season so I have been spending the past few weeks catching up on everything going on in my own personal Disney world. There have been two new DLCs since I last wrote about the game. That means I got to spend some time unlocking Gaston, Rapunzel, EVE, Oswald, and Jafar from A Rift In Time, the first DLC. The Storybook Vale, the second DLC, gave us Merida, Flynn Rider, and Hades. On top of that, the main game added Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas. (A list of all the currently available characters can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Dreamlight_Valley#Characters) I still have a ton of fun playing the game, even though it takes over my life sometimes.
Watching documentaries. What better way to get out of the Christmas romcom funk then a few tales from real life. Yes, I do watch a lot of true crime documentaries but I also watch ones that are just about interesting stuff. Recently I watched Jailbreak: Love On The Run, Into The Fire: The Lost Daughter, and Biggest Heist Ever. I thought about writing reviews on them, then I decided that I needed some media that was just for me.
Listening to music/podcasts. When I play Dreamlight Valley, I turn off the in-game sound and listen to music or podcasts instead. (A lot of in-game noise bugs me so I rarely play video games with the sound on.) I’ll pop on some Green Day or a random ‘90s playlist on Spotify. I’ve also been listening to the 60 Songs That Explain The ‘90s podcast. (Spoiler alert: They have covered more than 60 songs. And I think they’re currently covering 2000s songs.)
Journaling. That’s right. Sometimes I write for myself. I have a list of journal prompts that I try to do daily, except on weekends. It lets me think a little more about what goes on in my head instead of what is going on on a screen. Journaling may not be for everyone but I find that it does help me get over the romcom hump. Also, I write with fountain pens so I get extra enjoyment from picking out what type and color ink I feel like using. I particularly like shimmer inks, even though they are a pain in the butt. They are awfully pretty.
And that mostly covers it. I am going to try to get back to a regular posting schedule this week. Though I think I might do Tuesdays & Thursdays instead of Monday/Wednesday/Friday. Maybe putting a little less pressure on myself will help me keep going.