The Yearly Wheel Keeps Turning: Bring in 2022

It's that time of year again, when I sit down and look at everything that I had set out to do for 2021 and assess what I can do to influence my successes in the coming year. More often than not, I'm reminded of something that was a massive step forward that I had completely forgotten about in the wake of all the negative.

Between COVID-Delta and the constant stream of lockdowns, the crazy of copyright laws, the push for increasing diversity, and all crazy that has ensued in my personal life, there is only one thing that I can do: focus on what I can control and breathe. (Okay, that's two things.)

And my biggest lesson in 2021 is that I need to learn how to say "No."

Today's post is long, but it is what it is.

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The Mental Drain of Big Projects

When I started this #DigitalDetox thing, I knew that I would learn a few things about myself that I never knew. Or maybe I did know them, but just didn't recognize them for what they were. But I this week's discovery explained so many things about the past that I had never put together before.

After completing a big project, I'm mentally and physically zonked—zapped of energy—and the fiction writing becomes a struggle. In fact, anything creative, including coloring-in pictures, becomes a struggle.

So, it probably won't be a surprise to anyone to discover that this week is yet another #DigitalDetox redo.

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Advice out of the mouths of babes

Some years ago, my daughter and I were having a conversation about what it was she would like to do for the coming year. She's a dancer, and at the time, she was interested in the idea of turning her dancing into a career. She was only 13 at the time, but even then, she knew that if she wanted to go professional, she was going to have to work hard to be the best she could be—and some.

The performing arts are just as competitive as the publishing industry, if not more so.

Anyway, I had received an email from her dance school about auditions for a competition dance team. She had never been part of a competition team, but she was being invited specifically to audition. When I asked her if she was interested, she hummed and hawed for a bit, then she said something that hit a little closer to home than she realized.

"I'm never going to make it if I don't take a risk and put myself out there."

BAM! The fist hit me in the gut, and she never lifted a finger. She was talking about her own dreams and her own aspirations, yet her words carried a message that was powerful.

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#DigitalDetox Challenges 7 and 8: I didn’t know about that app…

For the past week, I've been working on two different #DigitalDetox challenges: write a poem and try a new food.

While writing a poem was a challenge, trying a new food was not. I seem to try new foods almost on a weekly basis, anyway. Yes, I have my favorites, and yes, I can be a creature of habit, but we're talking about food here. I love exploring new flavors.

So, while the "try a new food" challenge was in a way instinct and already built into my psyche, I did have to work at writing a poem. And while doing so, I discovered an app that I didn't know that existed on my phone.

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The #DigitalDetox Poem

#DigitalDetox number 7 was to write a poem. I'll detail my feelings about how the week went with this challenge in another post, but for the moment, I thought I would share with you the poem that was created.

It's not a masterpiece by no stretch of the word, but it's not a disaster either. However, there was a theme to it that sort of shows where my mental mindset is at the moment.

It was written while I was driving, using the dictation app that I discovered on my phone.

Enjoy.

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