Be Daring! Be Bold!

Happy New Year!

My hope for 2016 is that it will be, one more time, a Year of Selfishness^* (much like it was for 2015). I will acknowledge what it is that I want to achieve and go after it. I will be courageous, daring, bold. I will, selfishly, put myself first. That will take courage because, sometimes, putting myself first is difficult to do. I don’t want to let down my partner, friends or family. I don’t want them to feel like I’ve abandoned them. But for me to be true to who I am, and if I want to feel like I’m moving confidently in the direction of my dreams, I need to make sure I’m taking care of myself before I can be there for anyone else. Right? Otherwise, I’ll end up abandoning myself, and my dreams.

In my pursuit of selfishness, I will be constantly looking to maintain some sense of balance. And for me, the idea of balance is often elusive. Because I struggle. I struggle with the demands of life, working hard to not let myself get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, to resist the temptation to rush, rush, rush. Some days it feels like I’m barely keeping up, like there’s too much pressure. Some of that “pressure” is self-inflicted — getting up before dawn to write in order to bring my writing projects full circle, trying to get out for a run or to the gym daily, returning phone calls and e-mails to friends, preparing a gourmet dinner, doing laundry … There are external pressures, like social media. Nowadays, it’s expected that artists in all genres will be actively engaged on social media — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn — but I am easily overwhelmed by social media. And when I am overwhelmed, I lose my footing. That is why I struggle. I struggle to do it all in a day, to find balance.

Hold fast, hold strong.

For me to succeed at putting myself first, to be selfish, I must take that age-old adage to heart and take life “one day at a time.” I can’t focus on what I can’t do. I must focus on what I can do. I must learn to dominate social media instead of letting social media have dominion over me. I will not chastise myself for things not done; I will instead celebrate all that I achieve. If I can do that, and not be discouraged, 2016 has the potential to be a very Happy New Year.

* I’m not subscribing to the traditional definition of the root word, selfish: “(Of a person, action, or motive) lacking consideration for other people; concerned chiefly with one’s own personal profit or pleasure,” as defined by the Oxford Dictionary. I am not without consideration for other people, nor am I mainly obsessed with my own “personal profit or pleasure.”

To read a sneak peak from my novel, click on the title: The Flowers Need Watering: