This week I have been struggling with a topic that would be relevant to this blog. Then it hit me, why not something that is relevant to everyone? Like stepping outside of your comfort zone, no matter in what context. What had me thinking about this? Well this year I have been pushing myself out of my comfort zone a lot in order to learn and grow as a person, an author, a professional. We have to step outside of our norm in order to grow. Yes it is scary and unsettling, but also exhilarating at the same time. That is what happens when you dream big and chase after them.
Take me for instance. This year I have already become a certified personal trainer. This was way out of my comfort zone. I had not studied for anything in a long time. I was so nervous the day of the test. But I passed with flying colors and have already taken some continuing education courses to further my knowledge. This experience has given me more confidence in myself. I feel great to have accomplished this when I thought it might be too hard for me. This has in turn helped me with my own workouts and I am feeling better physically than I have in a long time. I am in the process of getting my YouTube channel and website for training up and running and this too is scary but so exciting at the same time. Who knew that at this point in my life I would find a new passion and a new direction to travel in? This year I am also trying to push myself as an author. I am trying new genres, like science fiction. I am pushing for longer works, rather than staying in my comfort zone of being a novella queen. I am playing with the idea of releasing a book of poetry, something very personal and scary, but I think that it will benefit me to be scared of what I am releasing. All of this is scary for me, but I think this is what will take me to the next level as an author. So what are you dreaming about but are a little scared to try? What is the worst that will happen? Why not give it a try and see what happens, see what you learn in the process?
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I'm back! Even though I have cut blogging back to once, maybe twice a week, so far this year it has been a challenge. Part of the reason is because I am unsure on what I should be blogging about. This is my author blog, but I don't have any new releases coming up soon. Should I just give writing updates? Writing tips? Life updates? Talk about chasing goals of all sorts, writing related and more? I am choosing the later for the course of this blog, at least for right now. Plus I hope to have more guest blogs from other authors and reviews too. This blog, like me, is a work in progress.
So with that very lengthy and rambling intro, today I am going to talk about still moving towards your goals even when times are tough. Last week for me for instance, was a tough one. My dog had to go in for surgery on Monday and it was a rough couple days recovery wise Monday night and Tuesday. (He is much better now. He still has stitches and is not happy about having to wear a t-shirt to cover them, but he is back to normal and doing great!) I had some work related stress. My health decided to make me miserable for a bit. All in all not a great week. It was just a rough week and let me just say that I did not get as much done as I had planned or would have liked. My writing word count was so low I don't even want to post it. I didn't finish editing a collection of essays that I want to send my editor. I didn't get as much art done as I planned (I consider painting miniature for gaming art as well and I am trying to finish my Age of Sigmar army at long last). I took 4 days off from all exercise for health reasons. All in all I felt like I was not moving towards any of my goals and that frustrated me. Then I took a step back and looked at my planner. Yes there were a lot of things not crossed off, but there were things that I did manage to do. I worked the day job and hey that pays the bills. I got back to exercising and managed 3 good days of workouts once I was feeling better. I read. I did finish one painting of a miniature. I took a continuing education course on Type II diabetes prevention and management for my personal trainer certification. I did do some editing and a little bit of writing. All of these seem like small steps, but hey they each took me closer to my goals. I think that is what we all need to remember. Small steps are what help you make the greater gains. What goals are you working towards this week? This month? This year? What steps have you already taken to reach your goals? I bet if you look back over even just a month and a half that you have already made some great progress! If not? Well this is a great day to take a small step. Since we are still close to the beginning of the year, I have been focusing a lot on the goals that I have for the year. As I have already talked about, I have reached one huge goal already by becoming an ACE Certified Personal Trainer! I am currently working on getting set up to start my YouTube channel and getting my website up to continue on with that goal. But that was just the beginning of my goals.
However one lesson that I learned by studying got my personal trainer is the benefits of concentrating on one goal at a time. When my test date got close, studying was my main priority (after the day job and life stuff) and it certainly paid off by helping me pass my test and pass easily. Now I am usually one to have a ton of things going on all at once. And truly that is not going to change much as I still have a lot of goals in different areas of my life. That said, I am going to try to only focus on one goal at a time in each area of my life. I want to give my all to each of my projects and I think doing one at a time will be quite helpful. So that means one writing project at a time, something that is going to be super hard for me as I am usually have at least three stories going at once. This of course means that no one is my main focus. So this month I am going to work on getting a collection of non-fiction essays to my editor. Then I will work on a contemporary romance that is half written. Then when that is finished I will move on to my next project. Writing one thing at a time will be a challenge but I really hope it helps my productivity and quality too. For my personal training business, I will work on my website first. Then getting all the equipment that I need for my YouTube channel. Small steps will lead to big success eventually. And that is the process that I am going to take with all the goals I have in my life. Small steps towards success! Over the weekend I celebrated yet another year of being alive. As my best friend says, I am now 21... times two. lol So is she by the way. Now I am not one that does not necessarily enjoy my birthday, too many not so pleasant birthdays in the past. I try to keep it low key, yet depression still seems to set in on my birthday. This year my spouse and I had a lovely day out. Walking, shopping, art, good food and wine, and each other. Still my melancholy would not leave.
But now that my birthday, and the long and harsh January for that matter, are behind me, I am truly looking forward to the new year! I have lots of plans for this year and I am trying my best to be positive and optimistic for the coming months. Last month I sent one novella off to my editor, this month I will get a collection of essays off to her, and hopefully next month I will get a romance off to her as well. I have also started a sci-fi novel that I am pretty excited to be writing. So things are looking good on the writing front. I am also excited to put my personal trainer certification to use! I need to get things set up for my YouTube channel, but I am working on a list of videos I want to shoot and I am working on my website already. I am also available for in person training now, though I specialize in functional fitness for people with illness and/or recovering from injury. I will have my website up soon for online consultation. And of course soon there will be free YouTube videos for all. This is all very exciting for me and something that I have been working hard for. I am also excited to keep making art and experimenting for new art forms, though I think I am only going to produce art for art's sake, no more art shows for me for the foreseeable future. Still I will be showing art here on my blog and website. I will also be working on finishing my Warhammer 40k and Age of Sigmar armies too. And of course I still have a Harry Styles concert to look forward to this summer. I can't tell you how excited I am! All in all I can just feel that this will be a great year! |
AuthorAuthor, artist, jewelry maker and all around creative person. I write in many genres and have a lot of fun doing so. Please take a look around and enjoy! Archives
January 2022
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