Choose to Take the Journey

Writing is my passion, my love. But I didn’t really feel like doing it this month. I was sitting here today trying to understand why I would ever not want to do something that I love to do! I mean, if I can’t get my brain to engage in what I love, how the heck am I going to endure what I hate? As you can see, dear readers, this was a very important question for me to answer.

Despite the massive disruption in my work and my personal life last month, I did more writing than I’ve ever done since starting this blog and I enjoyed it immensely. But this month, even though my life has been better than it has ever been, I actually felt stressed with every post that I had to write! In fact, parts 5 and 6 of “House of Dreams” was already written in April and I had only to do the editing! There are at least 2 reasons for this.

First, because I was ahead on my writing schedule last month, I knew I didn’t have to push myself if I didn’t want to. On my time off, I found myself writing anyway, without regard for how much I wrote or how long I spent doing it. As a result, I got even further ahead and I didn’t have to react to a tick of the clock or a flip of the calendar. In reality, whether I chose to write because I felt like it or because I felt pressured to as the end of the month approached, the time available to me was exactly the same. But I’ll tell you, it sure feels different to stay ahead in the race against time than it does to catch up from behind.

Second, I found a way to enjoy the process. I sat in a tree-lined courtyard by myself with a nice, hot cappuccino, beneath the open, blue sky. I stopped whenever I felt like it, taking in the fresh air and beauty around me (including the occasional beauty that walked by). And I wrote what I felt inspired to write (even though not feeling your muse move you is never an excuse not to move your muse).

After I thought about how I could enjoy writing more, I asked myself, “How could you enjoy everything more?”  Your job?  Your workout?  Lunch and dinner?  How do you squeeze more juice out of life?  The answer is different for everyone, but if you remember to add in this step of figuring out how to enjoy everything, life may not necessarily give you more lemons, but you will certainly get more lemonade.