What’s True for Me This Week
What’s True for Me This Week
The weekly column here that's a little chatty and personal so you can get to know me and my creative weird sometimes silly sometimes mundane little brain ...
I always invite you to come share what’s true for you in my chat where I make these little updates daily-ish. Sometimes just taking a moment to sit and say “what’s true for me” really makes a lot of things clearer.
What’s Been True For Me This Week …
January 8, 2024
What is true for me today is that even though my bloodwork came back good, my body is cranky and there’s digestive stuff that needs to be dealt with but I need to find a new doctor first because the one I have isn’t a good fit and it feels so impossible to find a good doctor who also takes my low income health insurance and this is a circle I often feel trapped in. In the meantime I am focused on moving more and eating better in the hopes that alone will resolve the issues but also knowing it’s helpful even if more needs to be done.
Also true today is that it’s Monday and I like Mondays because they offer that fresh start ... I know that the changing of a calendar page is artificial but I like it anyway ... a new year, a new month, a new moon, a new week, a new day ... I find them all good reasons to pause and reflect and move forward anew. On Mondays I plan out my week. And it never goes according to plan but that’s not really the point of the practice. The point is to pin myself in place for a brief moment to organize the chaos of all that is life and breathe and see where I am and what I’d like my week to include.
January 9, 2024
What's true for me today is that I've been awake for three hours and spent all of that time here on Substack reading amazing articles and I'm grateful for that time and indulgence here but also need to remember that I have approximately six million and three other things to do before school starts up again next week. I wonder what the best schedule is going to be for reading non-school things in the new semester. I am worried about feeling overly busy. But I also know that a semester is only 15 or 16 weeks. And there's a spring break in there. And there's already a planned week off myself for my birthday. And there's also going to be so much richness in the experience to enjoy. So trying to remember that while also really, really enjoying this 10:30 am still in bed in jammies with dogs snoring and also not ready to be quite awake yet.
January 10, 2024
What's true for me today is that I've been thinking about where I put my time. Last year in a financial class I learned the idea that where we put our money reflects our values and priorities and it really shifted my perspective in a pretty profound way. And lately I've been thinking about how this is also true of our time/energy. This is obvious in a way, and I've long prioritized some things with this mindset (as anyone with limited spoons might understand) but also I realized that there are areas where I have not allowed my time and energy to reflect my real priorities. Mostly, this shows up in writing work ... where I think I sit somewhere in the middle. I do prioritize Substack and my own original writing. But I also prioritize school essay deadlines and work that I'm only doing for pay not for passion. And that's okay in that it has its place but I'm realizing I do it at the detriment of writing new book proposals and grants to really be able to fund doing the work that I believe I am meant to be doing. Every month, I put grant writing and book proposals and submissions on my To Do list or my calendar or wherever and every month it falls off with little or nothing done because I "ate my vegetables first" (a dumb phrase since I love vegetables, but you know what it means) and spent time on work that paid the immediate bills instead of making time for that. So, a new start, an effort to re-prioritize those things in my writing, to give my time and energy to what matters most. Which means continuing to be here as long as I can afford to do so and do this work that I believe in and work on the other work I really believe in and if that means that some deadlines slip by on the things that actually don't matter as much then learning to be okay with that or adjust to that.
January 11, 2024
What's true from today is that I am working on a grant application and feeling, at least for the moment, like I'm pointing my energies in the right direction. Last night my partner and I decided to go to a Persian restaurant that had been on our radar for a while and it was delicious. And it made my miss my two friends I recently went to a different but similar restaurant with which is kind of funny because they're new friends that I only met this last semester and yet I've missed them over the winter break and isn't amazing when we get excited to make new friends as adults?
January 12, 2024
What’s true today is that I’m sitting at the vet’s office waiting for the pup to get her X-rays to see how well she’s recovered eight week since her ccl surgery. It’s one of those times when time feels funny and I can’t believe it’s been already eight weeks but also only eight weeks. So much happens in two months. And weeks. And days. And hours. Life contains so much.
January 13, 2024
What’s true for me today is that I woke up too early with a sore throat and a sniffly nose and was worried that I’m getting sick and immediately thought about how its such terrible timing because we have a fun date today and I have a commitment tomorrow and school starts this week … but I went back to sleep and I feel okay now so maybe it was nothing. And if it is, it’s okay. I will focus on health and wellness and rest as needed because that’s what matters regardless of what other stuff is on the calendar. Also, everyone was getting sick right before Christmas and I am just so grateful I wasn’t sick then for the trip to visit my sister so really timing could be worse.
The pup got her X-rays yesterday and she is doing really well. Her bone is mostly healed except at the thickest part which is to be expected for a dog her size 8 weeks out. She’s cleared for longer walks which will make her happy. Try keeping a puppy under age 2 cooped up in an apartment for months. It’s tough although we have indoor games and snuggles and she plays with her brother dog and it’s not been sooo bad.
What’s true for you today?
How about love?
Hat tip to my friend Paul who sent me the above image. Love it.
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What’s been true for me this week...
I totally flubbed a Zoom seminar on Journaling Joy. It was just one hot mess after another and so I missed the entire session. It was partly because of my cognitive decline, partly because of my hearing issues, and partly because of technical issues that made it way too late to jump in and find any purpose, having missed all of the discussion and breakout groups of the previous 2.5 hours.
I had to just walk away and go to the lobby for a change of scenery because of my upset at failing to take a simple Sunday afternoon Zoom course. I now know I cannot do a Zoom meeting on anything other than my phone unless I have speakers. I don’t know if I can get a refund, or if there will be a further course offering.
Anyway, it was a course about finding and journaling Joy in your life. It was full of exercises to cull creative thoughts and start a Gratefulness Journal. I used to write one, but stopped a few years ago. I need to find that place in my heart and soul to start anew. That is a goal.
I did order the book authored by the course moderator. It will arrive on Tuesday. Maybe it will give me the spark that I need. I’m hopeful.
This is day four of a terrible migraine. I’ve not had one like this in years. I take migraine medicine. This one obviously slipped through the cracks. It slowed my creativity, but I did actually finish reading my first book of 2024, “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi. My next book may go slower, but I look forward to learning more about the Civil Rights Movement and am starting Alabama v. King.