The only way

Happy Monday

How are you all doing on the wonderfully Monday evening? How was your weekend? I’d love to hear from you, so shoot me a text or drop me a message.

My weekend was amazing. Saturday I stayed home all day and worked on some much needed diamond art, watched a couple of movies with John, made some yummy pork lettuce wraps, then enjoyed a nice warm fire. Sunday was super busy with the Easter carnival. Always a fun event, but so tiring, but we were able finish the day up with pizza with friends.

Today was a stress day. I had some dental work done and the whole procedure took 2 1/2 hours. Ugh, not a huge fan of dentists and the drills, but I will say, I have an incredible dentist and with a little sedation, all went well and I survived.

I’m so excited to let you all in on a little news. I had asked a good friend of mine if she would consider reading my manuscript and giving me her honest thoughts on it. She’s an avid reader and I was beyond thrilled when she said “absolutely” with zero hesitation.

Yesterday, my friend asked me when she’s going to get to read my manuscript and I told her I was adding a few things back into it that I had taken out due to some suggestions made to me by my editor/proof-reader, who happens to be a good friend. After finishing my class with Hay House however, I’ve decided to add it all back in, after all, it’s my story to tell and leaving out what I feel are important details, makes my story, incomplete.

Oh, and my friend also told me she was talking to her daughter who has her MFA in creative writing and she said she’d be happy to read my manuscript too. Guys, I think the Universe is telling me to pull my head out of the sand and get this done. I feel so inspired after talking to Kathy yesterday. She’s someone I respect and to have her cheering me on, well, my cup runneth over with the friends and family I have. I am blessed.

This year I’ve dedicated so much of my time to taking classes with different authors and my biggest class was the 4 day one with Hay House. I knew becoming a published author wouldn’t be easy, and I’m so glad I’ve had the opportunities to take on classes and learn from experienced authors and publishing companies.

Funny, I never thought of taking the time for these sorts of things would or could be considered a job, but it is. It’s a learning tool to become successful with my writing.

One thing I still struggle with is giving myself permission to watch movies to help with my writing. Yes, I said, watch movies. This is a change of my mind-set and that’s not easy when your 55 years young.

I remember a conversation I had with Shannon Messenger, author of Keeper of the Lost Cities. She told me back in the day before she became the author she is today, that during her college years, she took a class that required nothing but watching movies and writing about them. She said that is what helped her launch into being the success she is today. She learned how others wrote, how movies were written and she learned how to incorporate her own style with her own writing.

There’s more changes coming in my world and I’ll be sharing those soon, but for now, I thought I would talk about how changes in our lives is how we grow and learn.

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”-C. Joy Bell C.

I’m sure most, if not all of you would agree, change is not the easiest thing in the world to embrace. I know for me; change gives me anxiety, yet at the same time, it does come with a sense of thrill. The unknowns to me are now exciting all while being wrapped up in a tad bit of feeling exposed and frightened, but now, the excitement seems to be a little more of my focus rather than the fear.

The only way in this life, I believe, is for us to learn to embrace change, otherwise, we might miss out on something extraordinary. There’s nothing wrong with living our lives in safe mode, and perhaps for many of us, that’s what makes us happy, yet for some of us, looking for change, embracing change and making the change in our life is the best for us. We all have a choice and that too is amazing.

I know for me, I pray to God everyday, I also thank him everyday for the wonderful life he’s given me to live. Sure, I still have struggles and I still have moments of feeling alone, but, I’m learning to grow and embrace change. I try to look at those feelings as a stepping stone to where my path is leading me instead of staying focused in the negative. Not easy and it sure is a contestant work in progress, but it’s the only way to become the best version of me.

I was listening to a book written by Kelly Notaras and she was sharing how to become the author I was meant to be (I feel like in her book, she’s talking directly to me), and it’s because of her, I decided to rethink my manuscript/memoir and add back in some pretty gory details of my life, and it’s scary to me to expose myself that much more to anyone who may choose to read my book, but if I don’t write my entire story, my truth is lost and I believe that would make me sad to know I had the chance and I didn’t take it, however that may look. Sure, my manuscript will take a bit longer to make those changes, but I think it’ll be worth the wait.

I am learning to thrive on every aspect of learning, no matter what that learning looks like in my life. I’m excited to grow as a writer, even though I don’t know exactly what that looks like. I’m excited to continue on the journey towards the unknown and see where it takes me, no matter what the outcome of my life turns out to be. I want to be able to say, I embraced change, I welcomed the exposure and I’m thankful for opportunity to learn.

I used to be the person who never ventured out in the world. Looking back however, I wasn’t truly living my life, unless you count living the dreams along side my children as they dreamed of what their lives would be, but I never allowed myself to dream for me. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t change a moment with my children, they are part of the reason I want to become the best me possible. I loved being a part of their dreams and I’m grateful they took me on their dream journeys, and now, it’s time for me to live my dreams and guess what, that’s what they want for me too.

I want my boys to know their mother fought to become a good person, a loving person, someone who gives from their want, rather than from a need. I want my boys to know, even though they saw me hit rock bottom, I rose up and began to live, not again, but truly for the first time.

Life is short, and as Aunt Billie always says, “I lived my life with little to no regrets.” She’s a fine example of how to live the best life possible and guess what, she still loves to learn something new every day and she’s nearly 99 years young in just a couple of short weeks.

My dear readers, I do hope we all go out and embrace every aspect of our lives. I hope we learn and grow and along the way, may we all create wonderful memories with our family and friends.

Until next time, I hope you all, Love Life++ Hugs