The Quiet Time.

Copyright © Mark R Kelly 2025

Since returning to blogging back at the start of the summer, this Christmas period has been the longest I have gone without posting.

Nothing complicated, nothing sinister - plain and simple: I wandered off my path. Home with the two dogs alone for the Christmas / New Year break, I lost all sense of 'oomph'. My get-up-and-go got up and went.

No training, no writing; even online gaming became a bit 'meh'. Worst of all, I broke my no sugar regime. Yes, I hang my head in shame. I ate chocolate. Curiously, it didn't blow my socks off, and it didn't taste like the best thing ever. It only served to make me angry at myself for being so weak-willed. A whole year of breaking the sugar habit, and this Christmas I crumbled.

But you know what? The world didn't crumble and it didn't end. Best of all, I wasn't struck down by lightening. God does have a sense of humour after all.

I've sat in front of my pc, all full of good intentions of cracking on with chapter 11. It turns into a staring competition between me and the pc monitor. I've yet to win. I swear it smirks each time I rise from my seat and leave the room.

I did however, treat myself to a new game for my pc: ARC Raiders. But after 35 hours of gametime I'm feeling burnout creeping in. Beautiful to look at, smooth gameplay and a severe test of trust issues when playing solo and you encounter another player. Not one if you're high in the paranoid stakes and into the minus score of trust. I do find it funny, having some female with pigtails jog by, and I greet them, and a burly, gruff male voice answers back. Always a chuckle, that one. In-game proximity voice chat can be funny like that.

As of Sunday 28th December I began my journey back into physical exercise. Basics first, all body weight - and boy, have I got some body weight to work with. Three days in and I'm already feeling better overall.

To off-set the small 'good gains' I've achieved, I made a complete cock-up in ordering a tub of Kenco Instant Latte Coffee. Such a brew of chemical garbage. Stupidly I didn't consider it'd be pre-sweetened, but it is. God knows what's in it to make it froth, but when the powder is added to hot water, it crackles with what I can best describe as a cross between Rice Krispies and Poppin' Candy. What was I thinking?

So, to sum up, I've had a collapse of will-power, eaten chocolate (plenty of it), foregone exercise - oh yes, and slept in late each morning (not rising before 8am most mornings), over indulged in online gaming and been utterly pissed-off with garbage tv, and last, but not least, stonewalled by chapter 11. Again.

But hope shines eternal, as I push-up, squat and crunch my way back to a stronger, disciplined body and mind, and my will to return to a sugar-free lifestyle has been re-ignited with a stronger resolve and determination.

Anything else after that, as the saying goes, is gravy. The next time you read a post here it will be in 2026, so I'll bid you a Happy New Year, may it bring you peace, harmony, health, happiness and a brighter future. Until then.

I leave you with Max Richter's hauntingly beautiful, "On the Nature of Daylight". Enjoy.