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| Photo courtesy Jake Hills |
No, this is not a late-night TV ad: “For just three payments
of $29.95, you can have this beautiful Whatsit! But wait, there’s more…”
No, this is my current motto. Lately, I’ve been feeling
stuck, overwhelmed, frustrated…all squirmy and uncomfortable inside. As tired
of complaining to my long-suffering friends about my frustrations as they are
of hearing me complain. And the more I’ve stewed, the more drained and
frustrated I’ve felt.
June 10th’s quote offered me a clue about the
answer to this problem. I’m certainly uncomfortable, unhappy and
unfulfilled…what am I going to do about it? Sit and think some more, or act?
In the past, I’ve noticed an immediate surge of energy and
lifting of spirits when I do something, even if it’s as mundane as
cleaning out a drawer in the kitchen. So that’s what I did. I cleaned out two
drawers in the kitchen. Then I reglued the wood trim on the breakfast bar. Then
I dropped off the comforter set at Goodwill that I had been carting around in
my trunk for literally months.
These small actions relieved one tiny, itchy part of my
brain, but they were just the warm up. Lately I’ve felt especially stuck and
unsure of myself as a writer. I’ve been plugging away here on the blog, but
I’ve let all other aspects of my writing slide. I’m ready to get back into
freelancing, but I have a number of issues to deal with, including feeling
terribly rusty and out of practice locating markets and pitching articles. So I
took a small step towards correcting this by joining the Freelance Writer’s Den, and exploring the resources available there. My first goal: get a writer’s
website up as soon as possible. And, in the meantime, I’ve already collected a number of my writing clips on a
portfolio site, which you can see here.
Yes, I do believe in the value of contemplation and that doing
is not always better than being, but sometimes you must act. It doesn’t
matter what the step is, as long as you take one…and then another. So that’s where I am. Taking baby steps, looking
for “different ways [and] truer answers.”
