Suzanne Alyssa Andrew's Blog: The PROCESS blog, page 7

Journaling about uncertainty

As a former freelancer, uncertainty used to feel like an exciting promise. If it were a colour, it was a warm strawberry rouge, like something good just around the corner or dancing on the horizon. When the pandemic hit uncertainty turned darker and cloudier. If it were a paint chip it would be called Looming Storm. Possibility dimmed and invisible threats lurked. The feelings I attach to uncertainty now include shock, fear, anxiety and confusion. And yet, there’s still a distant splotch of rose gold on the horizon—in the idea this is temporary. We don’t know how long it will go on, but it’s not forever.

Esther Perel, a psychotherapist and relationships expert, says at the moment “we’re all dealing with Prolonged Uncertainty—the sense that, not only do we feel uncertain, we don’t know when our feeling of uncertainty will end.”

What can we do with these complex feelings around uncertainty now? Identifying them is a good step. If it’s tricky to put words on them, start by imagining what colours you think of when you think of uncertainty. Is there any sense of movement in these feelings? Could they shift over time?

I invite you to journal with me on this week’s question: what is my relationship to uncertainty?

I’ll be journaling with you!

Warm rose gold thoughts,

Suzanne

Journaling with @suzannealyssaauthor is a new weekly series on Instagram where we explore healing, growth and change. Follow me, and we’ll write together!

Journaling about love

In action movies strong characters often only finally say I love you just before all hell breaks loose and they have to run for their lives. I used to think people who constantly said I love you seemed fake. But then 2020 happened.

As we contemplate our mortality during a worldwide pandemic, we are all characters in an action thriller. So I’m saying I love you.

But what does that mean?

To begin to understand love in depth, I turned to All About Love: New Visions, a book by author and scholar bell hooks, who defines love as more than a feeling, and more than romance:

“To truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients—care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication,” bell hooks says. “To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility.”

I’m also going to call in Rupaul’s oft-repeated phrase from Drag Race: “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”

Because to practice love in its active, meaningful form, begins with ourselves and radiates outwards from there.

Let’s start with some simple ideas, because, honey, we’re not going to change the world in a day or a week! It has to be an ongoing practice!

I invite you to journal with me on this week’s question: In thinking of love as an action, what are simple and specific ways I can practice love within myself and within my community at this time?

I’ll be journaling with you!

With love (as an action!),

Suzanne

Journaling with @suzannealyssaauthor is a new weekly series on Instagram where we explore healing, growth and change. Follow me there, and we’ll write together!

Journaling with Suzanne begins

I used to think that because I’m part of a multi-racial, multi-ethnic family and circle of friends, am educated and read a lot I wasn’t prejudiced, discriminatory, and certainly not racist. But I am part of a system that is racist, and within that system I’m racist, you’re racist, our bosses, mentors, idols and icons are all racist.

Many people find this confronting, because we want to be good, nice people, and we’ve been taught to believe racists are bad people. But understanding racism as a system frees us to see racism differently: not as something only bad people are involved in, but something we are all in and all need to work on together to dismantle.

In structural racism we all commit acts of racism. Change requires us to see it, and admit it.

“The heartbeat historically of racism has been denial. By contrast, the heartbeat of antiracism is confession, is admission, is acknowledgement, is the willingness to be vulnerable, is the willingness to identify the times in which we are racist, is to be willing to diagnose ourselves and our country, our ideas and our policies. And the reason why that’s the heartbeat is because, like anything else the first step is acknowledging the problem. We can’t even begin the process of changing ourselves, of acting in an antiracist fashion if we’re not able to admit the times we’re being racist. I realized, essentially to be antiracist is to admit when we’re being racist.” Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist, in conversation with Brené Brown.

“If I understand racism as a system into which I was socialized, I can receive feedback on my problematic racial patterns as a helpful way to support my learning and growth.” Robin DiAngelo, White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism.

Journaling question: What can I acknowledge to myself today about race and racism?

Some comfort in verse

It’s a tough week here in Canada. We’re many weeks into the pandemic, still under lockdown, still wrestling with uncertainty. In the midst of it all there was a horrific mass murder in Nova Scotia. 

This is when we can look to verse and story for comfort. I did a reading of a section from The Man With the Blue Guitar by Wallace Stevens for the Dead Poets Reading Series. It’s something I memorized, years ago, that brings me comfort. 

Enjoy this reading.

My article on fun free home workouts

I wrote an article on how to strengthen your immune system with five fantastic free (or inexpensive) home workouts. These are videos I do all the time and I wanted to share them with you. 

Please read my article on Medium.

I’m new to Medium and will follow back if you follow me! 

Image: Kassandra from Yoga with Kassandra

2019 Canada’s Walk of Fame profiles

This was my third year writing a series of success story profiles on behalf of Canada’s Walk of Fame, and this year I had the great pleasure of interviewing Cindy Klassen, Will Arnett, Frank Gehry, Jim Treliving and Triumph.

Read my 2019 Canada’s Walk of Fame interviews

Publications round-up

It’s been a busy year in my writing studio with more doing and less promoting. Time to share some of what I’ve been up to!

Blog post about the writing craft:

Writing from a state of calm for Sarah Selecky’s Writing School

Recent interviews:

Cover story on Giller Prize shortlisted author Alix Ohlin, for Quill & Quire.

Interview with Writers’ Trust Prize shortlisted author Jenny Heijun Wills, for Hazlitt.

Canada’s Walk of Fame interviews for this year’s magazine: Cindy Klassen, Triumph, Will Arnett, Jim Treliving and Frank Gehry (links to come)

Realize your novel writing dream!

If you’ve ever dreamed about writing a novel, how would you like to start now? Enrolment for my section of the University of Toronto Continuing Studies course, Writing the Novel: Introduction is now open! The course starts September 30 and runs to December 8, and the best part is it’s all online, so you can study and write at home in your comfies with a cup of tea. 

PLUS, this is the first term of a brand new curriculum for this course, which means you’ll have all kinds of fun with the fresh, up-to-date material. To try the new curriculum, be sure to sign up for section 176. 

Looking forward to helping you get started on your book project step-by-step!

Quoted in The Globe and The Star

I recently enjoyed the pleasure of turning the tables and being an interviewee for a change!

I spoke with journalist Kira Vermond about productivity and my tips for getting things done for her Globe and Mail article, “Work Smarter, Not Harder. Here’s How.”

Earlier this year I spoke with editor and journalist Sue Carter about how I managed to (*gasp!*) declutter books. Read about that in her Toronto Star article, “Konmari or tsundoku? The unbearable lightness of getting rid of books.”

Work-in-progress

I quietly soft-launched my website redesign on July 22. Please be patient while I iron out the design and technical glitches! There will be more to come.

I’m also pleased at the progress I’m making on the current draft of my new novel, which also needs more work, but I’m loving the process.

Growth is hard. You just have to enjoy the mess, and keep moving forward, step-by-step. 

Oh, and the epic mountain view from the window of my writing studio helps too.