Anyone who’s traveled east on a plane knows about jetlag. But did you ever feel the effects of jetlag in everyday life? Tired, sluggish, feeling like the world around you is going too fast?

I’m calling it lifelag. 

I’m finding myself almost constantly in that mental state these days, thanks mostly to all the job changes I’ve had recently. The company I work for has been going through some deep reorganization – changes which overall are probably great for the firm, but which have caused a lot of anxiety among employees, as large-scale change always does. 

Now, I got lucky. Not only do I still have a job – I finally have the writing job I’ve been fighting for since I joined the company in January of 2013. So that’s good. What’s less exciting is that the new job comes with a new location, one that adds time to an already-annoying commute. I hate driving to begin with, so driving more isn’t my favorite. 

But all in all, I’m not complaining. My boss/editor is a cool dude; my team is a smart and welcoming bunch. It could be a lot worse. But getting here has been exhausting. They say that change is the only constant, and things at work have been changing constantly for a long time now. 

I think things are pretty much settled at this point, at least for me, and I’m glad I landed where I did. But it’s going to take my body and mind a little while to catch up and find the rhythm that works in this new world. 

And I’m frustrated and guilt-ridden because in the meantime, the writing is suffering. I know I shouldn’t feel guilty about it, but I hate being too mentally exhausted to do something I love. 

I probably won’t finish UNFOLD until sometime in October, which is kind of a bummer as I’d wanted to be done by August so I could publish in October, one year after FOLD came out. (Has it really been nearly a year already?!) Maybe I can swing a writing weekend this month and pull off a miracle. 

I’m starting to get competition, too, from the next book that wants to be written. It keeps shoving UNFOLD aside and demanding to be heard. Soon, book. Soon. 

Soon as I get over this lifelag.