Focus, Please! (K.Blais)

I’m sitting down to write this blog post rather late. It’s been a busy day and I am home now, both kids are in bed, recycling has been taken out to the road, laundry has been moved from the washing machine to the dryer, the laundry from the dryer has been folded, a glass of wine has been poured, and now it is time to write.

But what is there to write about? What is there to focus on this week?

Many thoughts have run rampant through my head – maybe I should take a lighter tone this week as I was pretty rough on “people” last week. Maybe I should have just bailed on posting this week due to busy-ness and/or unpreparedness (although I really and truly hate not posting). Maybe I should “cheat” and post some fiction, even though I save the fiction for the third week of each month.

Then I realized that my focus this week, my blog topic, could be just that – focus.

Now before some of you start to giggle (there is an acronym for F.O.C.U.S. that some may know), I intend to write this post on the real meaning of focus as the center of interest or activity (Google dictionary).

I struggled to find a focus, a center of interest, for this week because, usually, at some point throughout the week, a topic will come to me and I will play it around in my head, deciding if it is something that I want to write about (by want I mean need). There are some weeks, however, where there seems to be nothing ‘jumping’ out at me, nothing which seems to need contemplating or hashing around through and in my blogging perspective.

Focus though is extremely important. It is important because when we are able to focus on something in particular, our focus drives us to complete, succeed at, or accomplish whatever it is that we have set our sights on. When we have a center of interest or activity in our lives, we have goals in mind, steps which we want to take, and motions we need to go through.

When our lives lack focus it is difficult to become motivated. We may feel like we are stumbling around aimlessly looking for something to point us in the right direction or to lead us down the correct path. When we have no focus, the days can seem long and empty with no real direction or aim.

Personally, I find it easier to focus on certain things when I make a list of achievements for myself. At the beginning of this summer I made a list of things which needed to be done in my home, for example cleaning areas which I can never seem to find the time to get at. I took great pleasure in creating this list as I focused in on striving to get to things which I hadn’t done since moving into this place three years ago! I took even greater pleasure in checking off the things as I accomplished them. What a sense of achievement! I spent less ‘wasted’ days feeling guilty for not getting anything done and more days feeling proud that I had been productive with my time.

But… as you all know, for everything that I was able to check off on my list, I found something new to add on to it. Since I was focusing on getting my house clean and organized, the more I cleaned and organized the more I found that still needed to be cleaned and organized! My sense of achievement waivered daily between pride and frustration at the amount I had accomplished and the amount that still needed to be done! Arghhh.

I thought about my focus quite a bit and decided that while it was important to have a clean and organized home, (for how long though, really?) I also needed to spend my summer off focusing on doing some things which I would truly enjoy as well. I’m still working on the list for those things, but on it I know I certainly need to reach out to friends who I haven’t seen or talked to in a while (you know who you are), to write more (to write anything!), and to try to have some carefree fun which I find harder and harder to carve out time to do, sadly enough.

The next (last, gasp!) two weeks will be busy each in their own way, but my focus will be a combination of completing a bit more of my cleaning list and doing some more enjoyable things that I want to do as well. I guess as long as I have a clear focus on what I need and want to accomplish then things will get done when and how they are supposed to. I am going to put my faith and focus in that.

A Fresh Start: Today (K.Blais)

Today.

I sit here at my desk looking beyond at the freshly fallen snow. The trees look beautiful, majestically adorned in their shawls of white. As I sip my coffee my eyes reluctantly turn from the window to the perpetual calendar on my desk. I think momentarily of how fast time passes, but I smile as I read today’s inspirational quote :

As white snowflakes fall quietly and thickly on a winter day, answers to prayer will settle down upon you at every step you take…. The story of your life will be the story of prayer and answers to prayer. (Ole Hallesby)

(image courtesy of Google images)

I am reminded by the freshly fallen snow and the pleasantness of a new morning that I am blessed. I have been blessed with many things, but perhaps what I am most grateful for, today, are fresh starts and new beginnings.

I can’t quite explain it, as it is not that a whole lot in my life has changed. I’m still the same me, the same mother, wife, educator, and friend. I have not made any impressive, physical changes (although I would not frown upon becoming incredibly fit overnight!), but I feel changed.

I have often blogged about putting a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, to achieve my goals, to use my time wisely, and to live well. I strive to do those things each and every day. But, sitting here, looking out my window, admiring the new snow, I’ve decided to give myself permission to fall short. I’ve decided (perhaps not for the first time) that while I am a perfectionist at heart, I can be less than perfect (my standard of perfect) and it will be ok.

As many of you will recall, I began a writing challenge, NaNoWriMo, on November 1^st. I encouraged you all to challenge yourselves this month as well and to share those challenges with me. I must now confess that I have fallen short with my challenge, dear readers, and unless a small miracle occurs, I will not be able to complete NaNoWriMo by this Saturday. Due to extenuating circumstances, both emotional and physical, I was just not able to write the 50,000 words required to “win” NaNoWriMo. Stresses, Hard Hits and Must Not Quits, the Bittersweet Bite of Reality, and recent illness have each taken their toll on me this month.

That being said, I am off to a great start with what I hope will be an intriguing novel. I am taking the time to recover from some non-literal slaps in the face and to refocus on what truly matters in my life right now. Writing does matter a great deal to me, however, it has to be a part of my life, not a hardened dictator of it (even for a month), at least not right now.

We all need goals and challenges in order to push ourselves to be our best. I truly believe this. But we also need to realize that even if we don’t achieve or finish those goals exactly when we said we would, or exactly how we intended to, they can still be realized. It may take a little longer to get where we want to be and we may not get there in the exact form we originally chose. I’m reminded of the phrase “The journey is the reward” and I think that one sentence sums up how I’m feeling at this moment.

I am on a journey. I don’t know exactly where it is taking me, but I have a destination in mind. I don’t know how I’ll get there or how long it will take, but I will be patient. What I do know is that the story of my life is indeed a story of prayer and of many blessings. I will fall short at times and I may fall over and over again, but when I do fall I will get back up again and welcome a fresh start and a new beginning. There may be a number of fresh starts on this journey of my life and I will try to remember to be grateful for each and every one of them.

Today.

I look out the window on the winter wonderland which lies beyond my desk. I will embrace the fact that I am not perfect but I am blessed. Just as the snow begins to fall down again on the world around me, I know that I will move forward, I will set new goals, and my journey will head in the direction it is meant to. A fresh start starts today.

Rising To The Challenge (K.Blais)

Lately I’ve been feeling particularly challenged by many issues in my life. Maybe you can relate.

It is a fact that in the past few weeks nothing seems to be happening easily – most things are requiring a lot of concentrated time, work, and effort, at least more than usual. Oh I know that this happens from time to time – there are times when some things seem to be a lot harder than others and even harder than they should be. I have even blogged about a similar topic already in the not so long ago past. It’s also a fact that not all of my challenges are completely mine alone – I share in the challenges of my friends and loved ones, often as if they are my own, taking them upon myself as well. I guess it’s just what I do.

Having said that, I think it’s important to note that not all challenges are bad, it is often good to be challenged as well. Some challenges indeed do ‘challenge’ us to the point of discouragement, frustration, maybe even despair, but other challenges can also cause us to push ourselves harder, dig a little deeper, and go a little farther than we ever thought we could.

Challenges, both positive and negative, can be character building, but only if we can view them as such. Sometimes the realization that we’ve learned something, that we’ve become better somehow through this challenge, only comes later, much later, after the challenge has passed.

I’ve recently accepted a writing challenge. For those of you in the writing world, November is National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo). I had heard about NaNoWriMo last year, but a little too late to sign up. This year, thanks to a fellow blogger’s post on how she has accepted the Writing Challenge again this year, I was able to sign up myself in time.

(image courtesy of nanowrimo.org)

NaNoWriMo is an internet-based project that takes place every November. It challenges participants to write a new novel in one month with the slogan ‘Thirty days and nights of literary abandon! No Plot? No Problem!’ The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing through to the end of the first draft. Dozens of novels written during NaNoWriMo have been published (Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen to name one), not including self-published works. To win NaNoWriMo, participants much write an average of approximately 1,667 words a day. Anyone who reaches a 50,000 electronically submitted word length by November 30^th is considered a winner. The prize is the satisfaction of having written a novel. (information with help from Wikipedia.org)

NaNoWriMo is a pretty loaded writing opportunity. As a participant, I will be required to write a novel of 50,000 words or more in a month and that’s not a long time. Yeah, I know, it’s a huge challenge to undertake. I will log in my word count as often as I wish: daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or whenever I see fit. I will be required to give my novel a title (they recommend this as a first step), and even upload a cover photo. I will have to set some serious goals for myself, and it will take a lot of dedication to make sure that I meet these goals daily.

This challenge is not for the weak of heart. I will be spending many hours on my laptop and, I’m guessing, consuming many cups of coffee from November 1^st to November 30^th. But, I will, when I succeed, have written another novel. It may be not be a great novel, it may never be published, but at least I’ll be writing.

So while I may be inundated with other challenges in my life right now, I’ve decided to accept one challenge which I am really excited about and to embrace it with open arms. I may be pulling out my hair and questioning my sanity in accepting this challenge during the long (or maybe short considering how much I will need to write?) month of November, but I really think that this may be the push I need to make writing a dedicated focus in my life again.

Maybe you aren’t a writer and maybe you’re not interested in NaNoWriMo. Find another positive challenge for the month of November. Maybe your challenge will be a fitness plan, to make healthier choices, or to lose weight. Maybe you will challenge yourself to speak up for what you care about and eliminate some negative elements of your life. Your challenge could even be to have a better, more positive self image, and to strive to do more of the things that you love.

Whatever your challenge is, I welcome you to join me. Write your own ‘challenge plot’! Share your challenge with me. Let’s motivate each other to achieve our goals. Let’s make November a month of positive challenges and fantastic changes!

We can do it!

 

 

 

 

 

Everything INCREDIBLE (K. Blais)

A few weeks ago, when I wrote Living, Writing, and Shootin’ Skeet, I mentioned that I was adding Skeet Shooting to my list of “Things I Wanna Do”. I’ve been thinking a lot about that list and I’ve decided to rename it. Its new name: Everything INCREDIBLE.

(photo courtesy of google images)

Some people choose to call such a list a “Bucket List” (a term made famous by the movie), or “Things I Want to do Before I Die”. I prefer to think of my list as a list of things I would like to experience as I celebrate my journey through life. I believe that the journey is truly the reward.

I should mention that I love lists. (You may have noticed that I even love including lists in my blog posts!) I think that a list gives a good visual to the reader and provides accountability to the writer. I find a sense of accomplishment in checking things off my list as well. It is exceptionally helpful and encouraging to see progress and to have my ideas laid out in order. What better time to revisit a list, maybe even to modify it a bit, at the beginning of Spring?

So here is my list, in no particular order after the first. (The first item on my list is actually the goal I’d most like achieve, in the near future.) Everything INCREDIBLE was actually created with the help of my “W” and some of these same activities appear on her personal list too. It’s a lengthy list, and a bit fantastical, but that’s ok. I think it is better to have a long list of adventures, even if some of them are a tad wild, to choose from, as opposed to a short list of broader, “safe” events. Variety and choice are the seasonings in life. Life is about living, not just getting by!

In addition to sharing this list with you, dear readers, each and every time I get to “check off” an item from Everything INCREDIBLE I will blog about it in order to share my experiences. This could end up being a lot of fun, for everyone! (I hope!)

Everything INCREDIBLE (Draft Version)

1. Publish something, anything, every thing.
2. Travel to Australia and act out the first Crocodile Dundee movie. (Except for the scary crocodile-biting-the-water-bottle part because, let’s be honest, that was a close call!)
3. Take up hiking as a hobby. (Having just moved to the ‘mountainside’, I think this one might be fairly easy to accomplish.)
4. Travel to the Holy Land.
5. Walk in a vineyard. (I’m thinking Tuscany, but I won’t be picky.)
6. Swim under a waterfall. (I’m going to do this one soon!)
7. Hire a personal assistant. (Trust me, I need one).
8. Spend a day at the spa, guilt-free, (as in no Mommy or financial guilt – I’d like to see if that is even possible?!)
9. Be a super excited contestant on the Price Is Right AND get on stage to kiss Drew Carey. (That might not appeal to some, but I find him hilarious!)
10. Be a character in a third Sex and The City movie. (Maybe a fifth sassy woman to the fabulous foursome?!)
11. Find an undiscovered island. (Which after I find it will no longer be undiscovered, a sort of paradox…?)
12. Hop in a taxi and tell the driver to “take me somewhere interesting”.
13. Be part of a radio show (either as interviewer or interviewee).
14. Go sailing. (I have this romantic vision of myself as an elegant woman dressed in flowing, ‘sailing’ clothes and a fabulous floppy hat…)
15. Exchange writing ideas with Joy Fielding.
16. Learn to play squash.
17. Learn how to shoot skeet. (You knew that one was going to be in there!)
18. Go horseback riding through the mountains and/or on a beach.
19. Choose a country and learn not only the language that is spoken there, but also study its customs, its cuisine, its art, and its history. Visit said country one day. (Any suggestions, my beloved readers from around the world?)
20. Scuba dive in the Barrier Reef (Australia). (During my breaks from acting out Crocodile Dundee, of course.)
21. Go hiking in the rainforest.
22. Drive down Route 66. (To be honest, I’ve really wanted to do this since seeing the Cars movie).
23. Swim with dolphins.
24. Save a species from extinction.
25. Go island hopping in the Caribbean (It doesn’t really matter which islands as long as they’re tropical.)
26. Donate blood.
27. Get out of debt.
28. Take a dip in a public fountain.
29. Pay for a stranger’s meal.
30. Go white water rafting.
31. Run a 5K. (A real run – none of this walk/run stuff which I have done before…)
32. Meet Jim Cuddy. (Maybe I can even convince him to let me sing with him…? You know, just for fun. He can even wear earplugs, I don’t really mind.)
33. Receive an apology from my high school English teacher who told me that I would never be more than a technical writer. (Even if those were not his exact words, those are the words which I will always remember).
34. Learn from those words of my high school English teacher and remember that every thing I say can have a meaning to someone: Work towards inspiring someone to pursue his/her dreams.
35. Retire from my day job and spend my days writing, reading, gardening, and enjoying my children and (future) grandchildren.

Yes, it’s a crazy list, but that’s what makes it fun. It’s a draft version, so there are always room for edits and rewrites. For now, I think I’m going to get working (again) on #1.

Take some time for yourself and consider: what would your list of Everything INCREDIBLE look like?

(photo courtesy of thechangeblog.com)

(Dear Readers, Your reads, likes, comments, and shares make an INCREDIBLE difference to me! I hope that you will continue to share your thoughts and feedback. Please like our facebook page Writing For The Love of It, and follow me on Twitter @kim_blais. Make every day amazing! ~ K ~)