You all know I love my "internet challenges." You know, the platform challenge from October through Writer's Digest, the #nanowrimo national novel writing month challenge... right now, as part of my day job, I am doing the Mentor Masterclass Holiday Challenge. :)
Today is Day Two, and the task was to list alllll of my accomplishments for the year 2015. No achievement was too small. My list was smaller than years past, perhaps, but mighty. One of the things I consciously have been doing is slowing down- doing less, focusing more!
(I know my artistic challenge of a few weeks back is contradictory to what I just wrote! Which is why you will find an AMENDED version of that on my Patreon. I was reminded by most everyone I know that QUALITY is important as well as QUANTITY. And I don't want to spread myself too thin!)
But I am sharing with you today not to list all of my accomplishments, most of which were things like- didn't get sick this year. Got lots of nights with solid sleep this year. Didn't waste as much time on Facebook so that I could read more novels. Of course there were a few choice biggies- moved in with my love, did a one woman show, wrote and re-wrote (a hundred times) a very intense and smart and fun action script with my partner in life, love and writing. Etc.
Then, there was a question for reflection about celebrating accomplishments, and about creating a community of friends where we all honor each other... Here's my reflection.
" I used to never celebrate my achievements, because it always felt like a waste of time. Then I started a reward system because my life was starting to feel useless, pointless, nihilistically depressed. There WAS no point to life.
And while there may or may not be, part of my mystical conversion in India was realizing that THAT way of thinking, living, believing, being and living- THAT was not for me. I was a rose and for me all there was to do was to bloom- i.e., a rose is a rose is a rose. A rose grows, blooms, withers, dies. It does not choose when it blooms, when it withers, when it dies. It doesn’t even think it has a choice. It merely roses- does as a rose does- in accordance to its OWN co-creative interplay with nature and with the cosmos. So for me, it was the same: I would simply act and be the truest MYSELF I could be in accordance with MY interplay with nature and the cosmos.
Easier said than done, but then again, not really, because that’s all any of us are ever doing, whether we recognize it or not.
Then again, we are human roses. And we do have some and certain choices- and MINE at this time is a practice of choosing the humanistic and the hopeful, and putting that into practice....
SO
in regard to the reward system, every Friday I get a reward just for it being
Friday. (Looking for rewards where I don’t spend money, though, as I am also
now trying to live within my means, something I’ve never done, but want to
really get my debt- and credit- in better shape.) Then, I get rewards for all
sorts of good behavior as well- keeping commitments, doing responsible/ boring
things that MUST be done (seeing the OB/GYN for example, definitely warrants an
hour with the phone turned off, just me and a novel.)
I looked at
my list for this year and it is very small and low compared to achievements of
previous years. That said, I think slowing down and doing less was of extreme
important to me and it seems that perhaps it has only helped me with some of my
other accomplishments. My screenplay with my partner took a lot of time and
attention. Not getting sick was on the list, and that is another biggie for me.
I used to get sick all the time. But now, this last year, aside from allergies and
a few remnants leftover from car accidents and last year's pneumonia, I have
been VERY HEALTHY. I
no longer
miss sleep, that should definitely be on my list!
I had to
break the very difficult habits of saying yes to everything, of spreading
myself too thin. I had to end a few projects and in so doing I also lost a few
relationships… but I did what I thought was the right thing to do because I
REALLY WANT TO CHANGE MY LIFE, for real.
So, I will
celebrate that I have been willing to change, and in so doing, a lot of the WAY
things have come to me have- and will- change(d.) I am only in the beginning
stages of a slower, more meaningful, more sensual, more thoughtful way of life.
I guess I had to begin with a small discussion about semantics about what I see
as accomplishments, because I want quality rather than quantity now…
How would
it feel if I celebrated all of them all of the time?
This is
what I aspire toward actually. ;)
Great
parking spot? Yay! Celebration dance!
Authentic
conversation with a family member? Yay! Foot massage!
Loving kiss
with my partner? Yay! Another loving kiss!
LOL.
I think it
would be INCREDIBLY EMPOWERING.
Okay!
Champagne,
anyone?"
p.s. If you haven't seen STANDUPERA yet... it was on my list of accomplishments... ;-p
