This is NOT a New Year’s Post

When I make every effort to live in the NOW, it becomes difficult to give away energy at the beginning of a new week, month, and especially a new year.  And yet, here I am in 2024.

 WHOO.

Insert sparklers. 

My apologies. I don’t mean to diminish anyone else’s New Year’s groove. And yet much energy is attached to every Gregorian calendar-enhanced “new year.”  I get caught up in this wave even when I try not to. 

I did not plan to acknowledge the new year in this newsletter at all. There are enough newsletters and articles about this “exciting time” (whoo, again). Sharing (last week) my plan to not set New Year’s resolutions (without sounding as though I am anti-New Year’s) was my unintended contribution to this cause.

I have many draft newsletters on the go, and I am excited to share them with you. Alas, my GUT betrayed me this week and drove me to work on a new rant in the still of the night before publishing. And since I WRITE FROM MY GUT, I chose to follow along at the moment instead of sleep.  

Please join me and a few thought bubbles as I write aloud about the new year and writing journey (while not making this post all about the new year).

Questioning my intentions… AGAIN.

As I identify new intentions to start after my WRITERVERSARY (February 1st), I reflect on the current daily and weekly routines I have established. With new intentions, I may have to readjust the current routines I’m attached to. If a routine works and leads me closer to my dream, do I make changes to accommodate new intentions?

One example of a routine currently working includes writing in the mornings vs evenings or nighttime. My best writing is when I am disturbed by no one but Mimi (and sometimes Mocha)  in the house.  Usually this is around 3-7 am. However, I am considering an earlier goal of submitting my essays/poems/articles for publication. I would need to be ready to write and edit throughout the day, which is already difficult with my day job.  I may have to adjust when I write or the frequency of writing to meet these needs.

I am also interested in strengthening my writing network. A part of me felt like I slacked off in 2023. I want to reconnect with writers at various stages in their journey. Being part of any community takes effort and must be an ongoing process. How many social media networks do I need to be involved with? How much writing do I need to put aside to build community? What other routines would I need to reduce or let go of to bring this intention to life? 

I have pages of possible intentions I want to narrow down to only a few for this year, then build actionable goals from these intentions. I’m beginning to visualize my intentions as mini-stories. The theme or overall series is the DREAM (writing a book), and the goals are chapters within the story guiding the intentions (the plan).  Or something like that… now I’m babble-writing in the middle of the night. It happens a lot for me in the new year (even though I am NOT writing specifically about the new year). 

I am enjoying the puzzle work involved with setting these intentions. Yet I worry these intentions will not be ready in time for my WRITERVERSARY.  I try to take it one day at a time. This thought bubble overlaps with another…

Is it still about NOW?

Last year I tried to come up with a WORD for the year. I have heard this referred to as a theme word, power word, or guidance word representing your goals or intentions for the year.

My word was NOW. 

I don’t plan to choose a new word this year. I am still living as best I can in the NOW.  When I write from my gut, I am writing in the present moment.  This word is not leaving me any time soon, and I don’t want it to.  And NOW continues to be a work in progress.

When I lived in the past, I had so much fear I didn’t write. When I lived far into the future, I was not clear as to what the future held and allowed others to determine what it would look like. In turn, I was afraid to TRY, afraid to start.  

Previous unclear INTENTIONS and GOALS disconnected me from the NOW. I want to better align new intentions with the present journey without looking too far into the past and the future. 

I am compelled to acknowledge my fears around this time of the year and share how it attaches to my writing journey. I know I don’t have all the answers. NOW I am not afraid to ask the questions. This is the way the journey continues in the present state. 

NOW is all we have. NOW I am on a path of writing my own story with each step. I used to fear the future and the past when I wasn’t focusing on who I was and what I am NOW. When I listen to my gut and allow the flow to take place, it is difficult to live anywhere but the moment where I am. And, despite the lack of sleep, I am grateful to write every day and share the gifts I find along the journey.

Thank you for reading only a snippet of my many thought bubbles! I appreciate your support and feedback.

Have a great… whatever timeframe you want to make it, fellow creatives.

Naddy / Nadine