Category: bloganuary

Embracing deliberate ease

I started the bloganuary challenge knowing that I probably wouldn’t be able to post responses during the week. It was enough, I decided, to write every day.

And I did! Very deliberately! And I didn’t strive to post. Also deliberately!

There are several reasons for this. When I shut down the computer(s) in the evening, I really shut everything down. I don’t want to switch from my work laptop to my personal one. I also don’t have the brain power for proofing and posting (and trust me, you want me to proof before posting).

Lately, work has been a lot. Work has been so much that on some days, I console myself with: at least I don’t work for Twitter.

Yeah. A lot.

So evenings are for things not related to computer screens. Because if I don’t embrace ease in my life, I won’t be able to do anything else—deliberately or otherwise.

But I do have several posts I can schedule for next week. Plus, I will have some time this weekend to proof those posts. I’ll just be a week or so behind.

Again, deliberately.  

Small Acts of Bravery

Bloganuary: How are you brave?

My first reaction to this prompt was: I’m not.

Then I thought of caring for my mom these past few years. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I wasn’t sure I could do it. (I’m including my time in the Army and deploying to a combat zone in that calculation. Hands down, 2022 was one of the hardest years of my life.)

And I think that’s maybe what bravery is. Doing—or attempting to do—the thing you think you can’t do. And like small acts of kindness, I believe small acts of bravery are important.

Creating a blog and putting your words and voice into the world for the first (or tenth) time? That’s brave.

Confronting FOMO and deleting all social media apps on your phone so you can focus on what you want to do? That’s brave.

Starting a novel? Picking one back up? Painting a picture when you haven’t held a paintbrush since elementary school? Baking a cake from scratch?

Creating something—anything—and offering it to others with a:

Here, I made this. I hope you like it.

That’s brave.

Because maybe they won’t like it.

But I’m pretty sure someone will. It may take a while to find that someone. The catch is you must be generous first, offering up your talents, your time, your attention—offering that up without the promise of a return.

That’s brave.

2023: Deliberate Ease

Bloganuary: What is something you want to achieve this year?

Well, one of the things I’d like to do more of this year is blogging. So, there’s that.

But, I’ve been thinking less about goals and achievements and more about process and intention. So my intention for 2023 is deliberate ease.

Deliberate because there are things I want to do, and I need to take deliberate action in order to do them.

Ease to remind myself I don’t need to do everything, and I certainly don’t need to do it all at once.

The other word I’ve been thinking about is foundation. Literal foundations like my physical environment, inside and outside (one of the reasons I signed up for the Prohort). Foundations for my writing, like writing more and setting up my own store. Foundations for connecting and community.

Between the pandemic and caring for my mom, my world has contracted. I’m afraid that—if I let it— it would continue to shrink.

So for 2023, I hope to ease back into the world.

Deliberately.