I know I said I do not make resolutions because of the new year. So today, when I committed to writing 500 words daily for the next 31 days it was more because of the timing in my life and less because of the timing of the calendar.
I had committed to writing a novel in a month last summer. Yet my hard drive crashed at the start of the month and it took over a week to get it replaced so I gave up. Today when I decided to sign up for this commitment (as opposed to challenge) I did so knowing the only way I would get writing more is with some inspiration like this.
I cannot explain why, but I feel like my life at the moment is better than it has been in a long time. After a year of great difficulties, the year ended with tremendous freedom from a lot of toxic things that were weighing on me tremendously.
At 41 years of age I am feeling, maybe for the first time in my life, a tremendous freedom to do things I have previously only wanted to do or thought of doing. Last night I stayed up well past midnight chatting with a dear friend and enjoying some lovely tea another dear friend had given me for Christmas. It was possibly the best New Year's Eve I have had in a very long time. The friend I was visiting with has recently started along a difficult road and whilst I believe she will find tremendous healing along the journey, starting out it is very difficult. I was honoured that she wanted to stop by for the evening.
As we chatted about how the past few months had gone for each of us, I reflected on some of the challenges that have come along. I realised how thankful I am for them. I also realised there were a lot of things I was doing to try to 'keep up' and things I was not doing as a result. The things being neglected were actually better for me and neglecting them caused me more harm than good.
I believe we were all made to contribute something. Or more than a something. Maybe we are all created to contribute many things to the world around us. For as long as I can remember, I believed I was created to write. It was not the only thing I was here to do, but it was important. It is what I loved doing. It is what inspired me. It is what helped me feel more alive, if that makes sense. So I wrote.
Then I stopped writing. Life happened. People can be harsh. Life can be hard. It can stifle creativity at best. It can damage us at worst making us wonder what our worth is. I have had some very low moments in life. My health, very toxic relationships, difficult work environments, to name a few. It all took over.
This commitment to writing 500 words a day is my way of saying it stops now. The past can shape me, it has changed me, but it no longer needs to stifle me. It does not dictate. So time to create. Now, what to write?
I had committed to writing a novel in a month last summer. Yet my hard drive crashed at the start of the month and it took over a week to get it replaced so I gave up. Today when I decided to sign up for this commitment (as opposed to challenge) I did so knowing the only way I would get writing more is with some inspiration like this.
I cannot explain why, but I feel like my life at the moment is better than it has been in a long time. After a year of great difficulties, the year ended with tremendous freedom from a lot of toxic things that were weighing on me tremendously.
At 41 years of age I am feeling, maybe for the first time in my life, a tremendous freedom to do things I have previously only wanted to do or thought of doing. Last night I stayed up well past midnight chatting with a dear friend and enjoying some lovely tea another dear friend had given me for Christmas. It was possibly the best New Year's Eve I have had in a very long time. The friend I was visiting with has recently started along a difficult road and whilst I believe she will find tremendous healing along the journey, starting out it is very difficult. I was honoured that she wanted to stop by for the evening.
As we chatted about how the past few months had gone for each of us, I reflected on some of the challenges that have come along. I realised how thankful I am for them. I also realised there were a lot of things I was doing to try to 'keep up' and things I was not doing as a result. The things being neglected were actually better for me and neglecting them caused me more harm than good.
I believe we were all made to contribute something. Or more than a something. Maybe we are all created to contribute many things to the world around us. For as long as I can remember, I believed I was created to write. It was not the only thing I was here to do, but it was important. It is what I loved doing. It is what inspired me. It is what helped me feel more alive, if that makes sense. So I wrote.
Then I stopped writing. Life happened. People can be harsh. Life can be hard. It can stifle creativity at best. It can damage us at worst making us wonder what our worth is. I have had some very low moments in life. My health, very toxic relationships, difficult work environments, to name a few. It all took over.
This commitment to writing 500 words a day is my way of saying it stops now. The past can shape me, it has changed me, but it no longer needs to stifle me. It does not dictate. So time to create. Now, what to write?
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