It’s now or never.

It’s time to make myself a priority after years of supporting other people’s agendas while mine have been left gathering dust for decades.

In addition to that, these past months have been full of personal challenges that will eventually end on a very sad note and now more than ever, I need to take time to discover the things that I enjoy and the ways in which I want to spend my time before I no longer have the opportunity to do so.

To be quite honest, I don’t know where to begin with figuring out what is important to me but I am ready to find out.

My 2022 plan is to loosely use Sarah Ban Breathnach’s – “Simple Abundance: 365 Days to a Balanced and Joyful Life” as a jumping off point and according to 12 themes broken down by Aldís Elfarsdóttir in a post that you can read here.

I say “loosely” because I plan on tackling whatever feels right in that moment.

If you are interested in tackling “your next 12”, drop me a line in the comment box and keep an eye for an update by mid-December.

Bisous,

M xoxo

In my last post, I complained about feeling “stuck” so instead of spending the month of November diving into NaNoWriMo, I’ll be diving head-first into finding ways to get myself “unstuck”.

When I say “unstuck”, I mean finding a concrete and meaningful way to challenge myself towards personal growth, better self-care and increased contentment.

It’s time to make myself a priority.

I’m convinced that if I can do this, my efforts will help me to find my writing mojo.

In my last post, some of you mentionned feeling “stuck’ too so this is a sneak peak of what I am working on…

I did not “create” the themes pictured above.

They are from a book that was very, very, very popular back in the mid 1990s. (If you know where they are from, you get a gold star! 🙂 )

I think I know where I am going with this little project now that I have posted them in such a visual way on my kitchen wall.

I also think that it would be amazing to get “unstuck” together with others who want to do the same based on these themes.

If you are interested, check back once in a while to see what’s up and feel free to voice your interest in the comment box.

See you soon,

M xoxo

Stuck is where I am.

But truth be told, that’s where I have been for the longest time.

Nothing to do with the pandemic.

Nothing to do with my lack of oomph for fiction writing.

Nothing to do with my enhanced role as a caregiver.

It has everything to do with being half a century old now and fearing that I’ll die without discovering how close I could get to being the best version of myself for…me, myself and I.

Stuck.

Stuck.

Oh so stuck.

Tell me have you ever felt so stuck that you have no clue how to take action?

M

I stumbled across this little movie on Prime and thoroughly enjoyed its vibe.

Very reminiscent of “It”, “Strange Things” and the type of “spooky” I loved to read as a kid.

But being a kid is many moons ago so is it a little weird that I enjoy these juvenile movies at the ripe old age of “old”?

What do you think?

I was chatting the other day with a cousin, telling her about the storyline for “Like Water For Chocolate”, a book she had never read.

Having read the book soooo long ago, I was surprised at how much I remembered its’ themes and post-chat, I found myself perusing one of my bookcases.

Many moons ago, I gave away most of my books so now, I only have two bookcases but some shelves with double and even triple rows. One bookcase holds all the second hand books bought from library sales that I have yet to read and another bookcase contains all of my African American, Black, Caribbean and Latin American authors, many of which I had to special order from my local bookstore back in the day when “ethnic” books were few and far in bookstores.

Somewhere in my late twenties/early thirties, I promised myself to one day reread them all one day.

Right now, I’m thinking that my “one day” has come.

Due to the unpredictability of my current situation, I felt it best to drop out of my library’s monthly book club and let someone on the waiting list have my spot (truth be told, I haven’t been keen on the book selections) so this may be a good time to start my own me-myself-and-I book club.

They say that “good writers read good books” so maybe re-reading with a writer’s eye will help me with my goal of improving.

And I could begin with this one…

What do you think about rereading books on your shelves? And what book would you reread first?

Being in a state of flux seems to be my new normal.

If cancer has ever hit your family, you know what I mean when I say that you are simply at its’ mercy.

I have learned that making no concrete plans is the only best plan and if truth be told, it’s not all that bad.

The not making plans part, I mean.

It’s forced me to be more present in the present instead of obsessing about future events I can’t control. I’ve learned to deal with things as they occur, good and bad, on the daily. And if I get one important thing done during my day, I call it a “successful” day.

I never thought I would become one of those “living in the moment” folks but here I am now…wondering how I transitioned into this mindset without realizing it.

Are you a “live in the moment” type of person?

M