I sometimes forget how nice silence can be. Like most people, I live my life surrounded by noise. Streaming music (or radio, if you’re old school), television, traffic, airplanes overhead, the hum of electronics, people talking, dogs barking, phones pinging and beeping…it’s constant and never ending. There are times when I need a break from…
Category: Personal
Embracing Change [Mental Health]
“The only constant in life is change.” – Heraclitus Change happens around us all the time, but it’s either so subtle we don’t notice it or so frequent that we stop noticing it. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not, but in both cases, we usually have no control over it. All we can do is…
We Are What We Read [Books]
We’re all familiar with the adage that we are what we eat. Especially with children, the food we intake makes us who we are, builds us, helps us grow up to be adults. I believe the same applies to what we read. The words we intake help to build us, as well. New ideas, new…
Finding Serenity in Chaos [Mental Health]
Without a doubt, the world is a crazy place. Even taking politics and social unrest out of the equation, our lives can sometimes feel like they’re out of control and we’re simply hanging on by our fingertips. We’ve all felt like we’re being tossed about in a turbulent sea, but there are also times when…
Bidding Farewell to 2021
Wow, two weird years in a row. It feels like 2020 and 2021 sort of blended together, one being the continuation of the other. At least this year we had a vaccine to help differentiate it from its predecessor. Personally, it was a year of big change. There were some deaths in the family, new…
Daily Writing Goals [Writing]
Is it useful to set a daily writing goal for yourself? I’ve been giving this question some thought lately. I’ve read that many published authors set a daily number-based writing goal for themselves. For example, they push themselves to write four thousand words a day, and they can’t stop until they hit that mark. Doesn’t…
Productive Procrastination [Creativity]
I recently stumbled upon a term I hadn’t heard before: Productive Procrastination. The basic definition is when someone is productive as a way to avoid doing some other productive endeavor. Weird, right? But I get it. I know I’m guilty of it myself. I’ve caught myself working on a blog post instead of editing a…
Initiating Change [Mental Health]
I’m a firm believer that we are all a result of our lives up to this point in time, and that regardless of our current situation, we’re all capable of change. What I mean is, everything we experience in our lives, the good and the bad, the positive and negative, has made us who we…
Self-Promotion [Creativity]
My least favorite part of being a writer and creator is self-promotion. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m one of those people who finds it hard to brag and sell myself. I have no problem in selling other people’s work, promoting them and their endeavors, but for myself, well, it’s awkward. I feel that my writing…
Adding Excellence to Your Day [Mental Health]
“What is the most excellent thing I can do today?” – Neil Peart It’s no secret that I am a fan of the late drummer, lyricist, and writer Neil Peart. The quote above is a question he would ask himself every morning when he awoke, and I’m incorporating it into my own daily routine. I’ve…