Lava lamp love.
Hello again! How were the holidays for you? Busy as usual for me. I always feel a bit guilty in January that I sigh with relief when routines have started again. I’m not crazy about routines, it’s the regular, steady pace that I crave: a predictable schedule where I can find time to just be.
Before Christmas husband and I started a great fitness habit of rising early and getting some exercise in at the start of the day and I look forward to getting back into that. Not that I’m a gung-ho fitness freak, I just felt better when I did a bit of cardio and a bit of weights most days. Feeding my brain more oxygen did good things to my mood and my creativity.
I also blogged more regularly (well, I blogged) when I had the routine, and you’ve missed these posts, right? Nudge. Well I’ve missed interacting with you both here and on your blogs.
And anyway, I have good plans for this year and for my work (like my expat eBook). I haven’t made resolutions, I’ve just made decisions (lables, labels, labels)–this year I shall prioritise my writing. I started by not renewing a contract I was working on. I enjoyed the work, the pay was good, but at some point if I am ever going to get anything published I need to prioritise my work as I have other people’s. I need to just take a deep breath and jump right in. So…
Splash!
It’s a bit scary.
But in a water-plume-on-a-hot-day-at-a-theme-park way.
There’ve been a lot of inspiring blog posts and quotes on Facebook encouraging people to be kick ass in 2013, which is great!
Regular readers of this blog will know how I have a weakness for clever quotes. Maybe it’s just that I like language arranged nicely. Whatever it is, certain mixes of words really grab me and sometimes I share, sometimes I just sit and think about it a while. These are quotes that inspire me to push myself, or to be daring, or to think differently about something. They’ve been getting me fired up to do Great Things this year (the be ‘kick ass’). One of my favourites is:
You don’t get what you want, you get what you work for.
It’s true.
But you know what? Here’s a confession: As much as I love the yee-haw, and as much as I know Focus and Determination are the Keys to Success, and as much as I love the idea of being a bit kick ass, sometimes I just get so exhausted by it all. And by the whole inspirational, go get ‘em, work-hard-play-hard, be-the-best-you-can-be culture. Sometimes I just want to sit still and not feel bad about that.
My daughter received a lava lamp for Christmas and one afternoon I found myself sitting and staring at it, watching the blobs of lava separate and rise and rejoin and settle and rise again…and I was so lost in watching it that 20 minutes had passed before I even thought to look at my watch. And I loved that feeling. It was like drinking cool water on a hot, dry day.
You only get one life. Live it.
There’s a quote that makes my shoulders tighten with anxiety when I read it if I’m in this sort of mood. Am I living it, or is it passing me by? Am I living well enough, am I doing enough to justify a satisfied smile at the end of the day? Am I taking good enough care of myself, am I taking good enough care of my family? Am I siezing the day tight enough? Ad infinitum…
But I’m old enough now to know that part of living is just being. Taking a deep breath and then another and pausing to look around me, and just enjoy this moment for whatever it is. And being able to enjoy the moment–by watching a lava lamp, or just sitting with a cup of tea and holding still for a few minutes is one of the things I work for (see the first quote; see also this post if you want to know more on that: Why multitasking is bad).
So although I’m going to keep getting up at 6am to exercise (yes really), and although I’m going to go for it and push myself and work hard on my writing projects and be as kick ass as I can be, I’m also going to take it easy. That’s another decision, not a resolution.
What about you? Any decisions you’ve come to lately?
I’m old enough now to know that part of living is just being that is so true! It was not until I jumped off the hamster wheel I realised how little could make me so happy. Good luck with your exercise routine
Happy New Year!
6am? Ye gods, I could never be that dedicated, although I do work out every other day and feel better for it.
I have just received a rather long e-mail from my publisher which basically sets out a big to-do list for the next 3-4 months. Very daunting but it has to be done; I must resist the urge to sit down and faff about on the Internet!
Congratulations on taking the leap. I know it can be scary both before and after the fact. Good for you for making that decision and action.
The question as to whether or not I’m living life or if it’s passing me by pops up periodically for me as well. I don’t want to be that hamster in the wheel that Carole describes, but there are times when living is too exhausting. Sometimes the beaten path is good just because it allows you to recharge. Trailblazing takes it out of you mentally and physically.
My decision this year is if I’m sitting here dreading something, I either need to do it or cross it off my list of things to be done. It’s amazing how I spend more time not wanting to do something than it actually takes to complete it. NO MORE!
Okay, I’m off my soapbox now.
Welcome back, and I look forward to read more of your work this year.
I like the idea of just being, agree that you have one life so you should live it. But live doesn’t have to mean filling every second of the day with activity.
Oh and the exercise? 100% agree, amazing how getting up and doing it everyday changes your attitude and outlook on life.
The one quote I’m trying to remember is “don’t think, run”. If you’re wondering if you really need to get up today and run, if there is any doubt, forget it and just run.
It’ll be worth it
This spoke to me. Today, I was listening to my favourite ever novel, dramatised on Radio 4 (The Cazalets, if you’re interested). I found it quite hard to enjoy it, because I was feeling antsy, (am I using that word in the right way?) Couldn’t relax into sitting still. Feeling like I ought to be doing something else, instead of listening to it, or at the same time. The ironing, perhaps.
I was quite shocked at how hard I found it just to sit still and enjoy.
Just doing one thing at a time. That’s what I’m working towards in 2013. But I do have a quote for you, which resonates for me (and which is on the wall of the sports hall in my sons’ school): Success comes before work only in the dictionary.
Food for thought – for me, anyway!
Well done you and good luck. I can’t wait to read your masterpiece.
Karin
I have no problem with sitting and lying around. I am without doubt the laziest person in the universe (or rather, extremely good at relaxing) What I do find hard to is get up and do things. Which is why I make loads of deadlines for myself and sign up for stuff that i can’t get out of. Good on you for resolving to go for it on your writing projects!