October inspiration

Since today is October 1 I have made a commitment to myself to write a short amount daily. So this is my start and I want to keep my commitments. The exercise of writing is work that requires planning, time, research, and honesty. I’ve always found writing to be therapeutic, and looking back on what I’ve written I’m astonished often at how far I’ve come, what I’ve learned. I would have never imagined in what direction my life has taken turns. So it’s a kind of a diary, and so much more.

No excuses here. Hold me accountable and help me to stay faithful to writing each day. No I don’t think you want to know how wonderful my oatmeal was, or that I walked a mile and a half at lunch. I want to dig deep and share some of the Nuggets of the wonderful things I’ve been learning, share books I’ve read, and focus on all of the wonderment of life.

So why this choice? Life is too short to dwell on politics, negative things, the stresses of life, or current situations. We all have our good measure of challenge in this life but the greater choice is to do something constructive with those seemingly challenging events. For me writing is a good time to process life to slow down from the busyness of a full-time day job, a full-time art business, and a full-time wife and mom to two dogs. As I sit here writing I hear them snoring softly, comforted to be near. Writing is my little indulgence.

I have been re-reading old blog posts from 2010 through 2012 which was the lowest points of my life. Perhaps I didn’t realize it at the time of writing but through the varying challenges of job loss , financial reversal and the stress of trying to make sense of everything I wrote with the thread of hope, optimism, believe that this negative situation would be a stepping stone to greater things. So here we are in 2018. Our business is growing stronger and more stable. We’re paying our bills, Which gives me great joy. And we’ve had a grand adventure in building the art business with travel, meeting fabulous Artists, and developing a strong customer base. So as I reread those old blog posts something inside me says that I knew all along we would survive. No, we would thrive.

Growing, and overcoming adversity is something we all have to face. And to be very honest I don’t think we all handle it so well. Some of us are fighters that look like the phoenix rising from the ashes determined never to be held back by anything. Others sadly rollover, lick their wounds, and saddest of all they choose to do nothing to make a difference or overcome the challenges of life. That decision scares me the most. I want to always be a fighter, fierce in taking on rebuilding of life. And I’m so very thankful to say that eight years from our major upheaval I’ve grown a lot. I left a quote at the top of this blog post from one of my favorite authors, Jen Sincero. Her book series “You are a bad ass…” Has been perhaps the greatest fuel in my arsenal to overcome and rise again.

So each day in October I hope to bring you a sense of optimism about overcoming the obstacles, the struggle, the grief, or whatever is holding you captive and consuming your energies. We all need to be reminded that we have a purpose, and that purpose is where we shine the brightest.