Checking in With Myself

The sun shines brightly this morning, and we’re expected to hit a high of 17°C, although down by the lakeshore (where I live), it’ll be a little cooler. But that’s all right. Spring is, finally, in the air. The hope now is that the cold, long winter if behind us.

It seems like the perfect morning to check in with myself — to assess my progress and see if I’m still on track. Am I paralyzed once again by procrastination or am I moving, slowly but steadily, forward in the direction of my dreams?

At the beginning of 2014, I had set three goals for myself:

1.     Find a publisher for my second novel. This is ongoing. I’ve been making submissions and waiting for responses. Now I’m waiting on that one letter that says, “Yes, we’re interested in publishing your novel.”

2.     Finish the rewrite of another novel that needs lots and lots and lots of work. I have been on vacation for the past two weeks, and I succeeded at working through that rewrite. The process was at times difficult and frustrating. There were lots of holes in the story line and the characters weren't that believable. But the rewrite is done. While the manuscript still needs some more work, it is in a better state than it was when I started the rewrite back in November 2013. I will let the manuscript rest for a few months before tackling it again.

3.    2014 is to be a year of positivity. I want 2014 to be a year of less complaining and more positivity. Not just for me, but for the people around me — for all of us in fact. I have managed to, so far, remain positive most of the time.

The third goal, centred around positivity, has helped me to stay focused and productive. It helped me to keep submitting my manuscript even after I received a rejection letter because I believe in the work. When the rewrite of the other manuscript stalled, and I wasn’t sure that I had it in me to keep going, I returned to my commitment to being positive. I focused on what I wanted to achieve and believed that I could do it.

Channeling positivity, it feels as though there is a calmness that has instilled itself in my life. Even in stressful situations or what might feel like adversity, life doesn’t seem so daunting or dire. I’m focusing more on what I can do, and learning not to be so hard on myself if, for example, I don’t do as much writing in a day as I think I should. I’m giving myself a little slack so that I enjoy all that life has to offer.

So far I can say that, yes, I am still on track with my focus on what I want to achieve. So I’m taking it all one day at a time. And in the end, I hope that, like Mahatma Gandhi, “My life is my message.”