Thursday, December 02, 2010

So I'm a little late...

...but I've signed up for #Reverb10, a daily blog prompt to help me reflect on this past year and "...manifest what's next..." whatever that may end up. (thank you, Melissa!)

It started yesterday, but I was enroute to pick up Princess #1 at the airport who was coming back home from visiting her dad, and also playing Elizabeth in a 'Journey to Bethlehem' event at the local Presbyterian church (for you local readers, it continues Wednesdays from 12-1 in December, and is well worth taking half an hour at lunch to remember Christmas's message).

So, that said, on to the first prompt of Dec. 1:

One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you're choosing that word. Now, imagine it's one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

My word for 2010 is Transition. Almost from the first day in January, much of my life was disrupted this year because of a fall that broke my right wrist, which meant that I couldn't take notes or type (very efficiently at least) to continue on the freelancing path I've been on these past two+ years. It meant that I couldn't do the simplest chores, like folding clothes or washing dishes, without some major creativity. It meant that I spent the first three weeks of January in a pain-and-medicine-induced fog, with side effects that were in themselves very unpleasant -- like urpy nausea every time I needed one of the narcotic pain meds, or not being able to pee even though I badly needed to, or nightmarish dreams and restless sleep, with my right arm propped up on pillows.

The week between the accident and the surgery to repair the bad break was the worst: the body-mind connection is very real and gets stronger as we age, I believe, and my body knew that things were not right.

I came out of it all eventually and have most of my strength and movement back, thank you universe, but it took a very long time -- most of the year -- to find myself again, and actually I'm still working on becoming who I am supposed to be at this point in my life, and figuring out how to do what I need to do (whatever that is). I'm no longer freelancing, but was able to turn that over to a dear friend who loves the writing and meets the deadlines without the anxiety that they were provoking in me anyway. Clearly I was meant to give that up -- and I don't miss the deadlines, although I loved hearing the stories!

Top that off with some stresses and angst about other loved ones' issues and problems, and it made for a year in transit.

For 2011, I'd like my word to be Renewal. I want to move ahead, to put things to rest and to clean out the old (literally as well as figuratively), to remember every day that this is not a dress rehearsal and that every day is a new beginning if I so choose.

For Dec. 2:
Writing. What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing -- and can you eliminate it?

I get bogged down in little things, mostly, but also spend too much time putzing on Facebook, on e-mail, on Internet browsing about things that aren't really all that important. I do read several blogs every day but I think that's a GOOD thing, like reading the newspapers. But I do procrastinate -- always have, or at least to the point where I'm down to the eleventh hour and 58th minute before I get going -- and I'd like to NOT do that. I'm working on trying to allow a certain time period for putzing, and then doing at least ONE thing for the good of the order -- like vaccuuming a rug or dusting a table or cleaning a drawer or a closet -- every day. I also need to plan to spend at least an hour a day writing or working on a plan for a book. Progress, not perfection.

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