New Years Eve was five months ago. Yet, I somehow have
managed to keep up to date with my resolutions. Before 2013, I started each
year trying to quit smoking, lose weight, or write more. This year I took a
different approach and gave myself three things:
1) A
goal
2) A
mantra
3) A
trio of words to appreciate
First, the goal is to publish or perish. Most of my adult
life, I held delusions that I would have a book picked up by a power publishing
house and maybe even change the world with my words. Ha! So rather than
dreaming this little dream, I decided to set a tangible goal: I will move the
heaps of words stored on my terabyte, in copy paper boxes, in notebooks and
legal pads, and collected in desk and file drawers. The new location for these
will be in front of an audience. In taking advice from Seth Godin, I am hoping
just one person reads it. Maybe that one person will recommend some of it to
another person and so on until a crescendo of readers could occur — maybe not.
Either way, the goal remains. If I do not publish, the work will perish and
therefore my voice will remain absent despite the time I spent developing it.
I’ll end this thought with another respected authority’s perspective on
creativity, “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else
decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are
deciding, make even more art,” Andy Warhol.
Second my mantra for the year is, “If you don’t change
directions, you will get where you are going.” This is pretty silly and
straightforward. Yet it reminds me to not be tempted or lured to other worthy
pursuits, but rather stay the course! It also reminds me of something my middle
son said to me on a walk around the block. The then 3-year-old boy kept sitting
down on ant piles or picking dandelions from the terrace while I rushed him
ahead. He said, “Mom, I don’t ever quit. I just take lots of breaks.” So I may
take a break now and then, but I’m not quitting and I’m not adjusting the
sails.
Third, my three words: Love, Happiness, and Power. A friend
put a word search on FB late in December and the task was to pick out the first
three words that came to you. These were my words. Again silly, but I journal
each day what in my life gives me love, happiness, and power. This is usually
just a word or two and occasionally a phrase. Generally, the variation is that
I garner love from my family and friends, happiness from my writing and
hobbies, and power from stomping out doubt and making measurable progress.
So far these three things work for me; I am living with more
peace and optimism than before I set up this system. It takes away the anxiety
and calms me into a sense of purpose.
As a writer, each day I pick up my journal and see a blank
page. I write the day of the date and time just to start the ink and remove the
intimidation of the pristine sheet of paper. From here I write something new
every time. My two real jobs in life have been as a journalist and as a
waitress. These both have something in common — made fresh daily. This
mentality of making/creating something new daily is a good metaphor for setting
goals and resolutions. There is no need to wait for Jan. 1, your next birthday,
or the beginning of swimsuit season. Today is open. Start, take breaks, resume
the pace.
