Make It a Great Year

your lips touch mine and

i shiver – is it memory or

reality? warmth floods my

body as i continue to discover

new ways to reignite the fire

of ghost kisses and feelings

of love as gentle as hello

–freewriting for a poem in progress

This has been a great year, one in which I have experienced growth as an artist and as an educator. Growth, like any change, is not without its growing pains, but more than anything, it provides and provided an opportunity for me to stretch my wings and see how far I could fly. As I reflect over this past year, I am proud of myself. I am proud of the chances I took to invest in me and my dreams. I am proud of the ways in which I showed love to myself. I am proud of the ways in which I loved and honored the love of those around me. And, finally, I am proud that I haven’t given up on myself because it’s so easy to do. To look around and see other’s people’s growth or happiness and judge my own growth and happiness based on what I see. No, that doesn’t work for me. And that’s why I can say 2017 was so sweet.

In the coming year, I will continue to work on my short story collection, The Women and my next poetry collection, which is not yet titled. I will continue to work hard every day, as an educator, to teach my students how to think. To make a safe space for them to fail, but to provide for them every opportunity to succeed. I have goals and to see those goals come to fruition, I have written them down along with the steps I plan to take to help them manifest in my life.

I created this blog post because I want everyone to feel the type of peace and joy that I feel. Going into 2018, I’m not trying to come up with a list of things I must do because I never got around to doing it in 2017. Live each day as if though it’s your last. Think about what will be important to you on your death bed and do that. Put energy into that thing that you know will be important to you at the end, so should be important to you now.

My grandmother used to say, “I’m going to do such and such if I live to see tomorrow.” She acknowledged the simple truth that as sure as you are living, you shall surely die. And when you live like you don’t have forever to do the things you want to do, well, you get things done. You start to live a life of passion. Because you learn that it’s a waste of time to waste time doing things that don’t make you happy. Many moons ago, when I was working full-time as a newspaper reporter, I interviewed this woman who said she always told her daughter, “Make today a great day.” And to this day, I try to live this mantra. But, it’s for more than just the days, it’s for the years as well. Make today a great day. Make next year a great year.

Keep creating! Creating art. Creating yourself. Creating the life you want. And keep creating your happiness!

Peace & Love,

Rosalind