If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Starting with the Right Frame of Mind

January 2nd 2015

So this is the time of the year when we are supposed to start living a new and better lifestyle than we did the previous year.  So I started out with a bang.

"How you ask?"

I got up at 5, which is no different than usual.
I sat for hours on the couch with my laptop and numerous cups of coffee, again no different.

In fact the only thing I did different was to sit here and not care that I was sitting here.
I worked really hard at beating back the urge to be productive.
I've spent the last two mornings reading a ton of my old blog posts.

I don't know why, perhaps looking for something...an idea for more writing maybe, some sort of inspiration with which to continue my attempts at writing.

I didn't find much inspiration directly but what I did find was that when I read the words I wrote myself there was a magical tie that left me feeling good.  I laughed at a lot of my own words and I cried at some of the others.  I did not realize how much of me is actually in all of these musings.

That in and of itself was my inspiration.  In general I read other blogs, not my own, so I can assure you it was quite entertaining for the most part.

I also found a lot of stories in there that never got to see much of the daylight.  Some were pretty good too. (I think)

So with this in mind I decided to write this.  Not as a New Year's resolution or even New Year's goals but as a reminder to myself about what is inside of me and what it is that makes me tick.

You see I've been a tad lost for quite some time.  Wrapped up in worldly things that truthfully, at the end of the day, don't mean squat to me.  There are a lot of things that I think make me happy.  An excess of things but let's be honest, do they really make me happy or do they just compound an itch for more things that no amount of scratching can overcome.

So this year I have decided to take a step back.  I want to look and live life at a slower pace.  I'm far too much in a hurry to stop and smell the roses in my blitzkrieg to get to the end.  Really, what is the end, death?  If you look at it that way we will all slow down.

"How do you plan on doing that?"you ask.

#1.  Less projects.
I know that is part of my make up.  Part of what keeps me ticking but sometimes it can be very stressful.  What really sucks is knowing that you heaped all this stress upon yourself.  And for what?

#2.  Change my physical well being.
Everyone tries this at the new year.  I'm not getting any younger and I have been thinking about it for a long time.  Not doing anything, just thinking.  No I don't plan on achieving the Channing Tatum look, albeit my wife would probably love it, I'm just looking to shed a few pounds, lower my cholesterol and try and live past 50 without a major heart attack.

#3.  Write more
Scratch that...write a lot more.  Writing is a passion of mine which ranks up in the top three.  Why I fail to find time to do it is related to things described above.  Stupid, stupid, stupid.
After reading through my blog and all the related comments no comment sticks out more than, "Bushman you should write a memoir".  Done deal.  That will be one of the things I will write this year.  I also plan on doing the A to Z blog challenge again this year.  I skipped out last year because I just had too much stuff to do.  (again preoccupied with the world)

#4.  Spend more time enjoying the company of my family.
Too little time is spent with loved ones.  Before you know it they're all gone and your left with nothing but wish-fullness and the awful feeling of 'I should have'.

#5.  Start the process of buying and building my vacation property and cabin.
Although I don't know how long this will take I can already imagine a place where I can retreat to the silence of nature and read a book or create new stories under the shade of a giant oak tree.
A place to take my kids and one day their kids.   A place to maybe retire to one day.  The possibilities are endless.  At first this seems like it goes against the things I have just stated but it will be along and gradual process spread out over many years but if I don't start now it will never get done.

That is how I plan on spending the new year.  As a matter of fact it is now ten o clock and I'm still in my pajamas and on the couch.  4 hours now I have done nothing but read and write.
Good start in my opinion.


In a couple hours I am going to pick up my daughter and take her out for sushi.  Her and I love sushi and it's nice to spend time with her.

How do you plan on spending your new year?

Cheers
-Bushman




                                           Can you imagine this as your writing desk?

2 comments:

  1. Absolutely great post, Bushman.

    That photo is awesome, and yes, I may grab it when you’re out tending the snow… that you’re waiting for. I think I smell a 15 minute story in it.

    Your plan (I know, not a resolution, not a goal) will work because you want it to. If we want it bad enough we make TIME for it - time, that’s what we all have in common - it’s how we use it that differs. That is how I came to decide my goal is not to write so much as it is to set time aside to do my writing.

    Funny thing is 15 minutes a day times 365 days is just over 91 hours - just under 4 days… when I saw these numbers on paper, like that, I almost cried. The thought of only spending 4 days on writing, out of those 365, was heartbreaking.

    But, here’s the funny thing - at about 500 words per 15 minutes, done daily, as I aspire to do this year, will equal 182,000 words and that, my dear friend, is about the number of words Charles Dickens used to write Great Expectations. The Outsiders, a classic, and favourite of mine, comes in at 48,523.

    I’ve included this link which goes to a site that gives the Word Count for Famous Novels.. You’ll see that with 15 minutes a day one could write a novel, and have time left over for editing - if your novel is half that number - as many great novels are.

    Sorry for rambling, but, from one aspiring writer to another I’m stoked to read this post. I have spent time reading my past posts for the A-Z too and, like you, decided I’d throw my hand back in the fray. It’ll be great!

    My motto this year is “Enjoy the journey.”

    Cheers, Jenny

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love this post I can tell you from experience that living a simple life is awesome. The material things are NOT important. Doing that makes you happy and taking time out for YOURSELF, makes you look at the world around you in a different light. As you know, the beach is my place. I go there to re-energize myself and collect my thoughts. It truly makes me appreciate life and cherishing every day!!

    ReplyDelete

Leave your comment here please.