A New Plan (or One Day at a Time)

Thank you! 
Thank you all so very much for your love, support, kindness, and good advice last week. I really needed it.

I have spent a lot of time thinking and praying and soul-searching about this whole thing. On Monday, I started to make a plan. It had things like write 100 pages a month, create a schedule and stick with it, and publish 2-3 books a year. All good things. But I started to feel stressed and depressed again.

More soul-searching commenced.

Then yesterday while walking at the pond, I had an epiphany. I knew what I needed to do. And it starts with letting go of the things I can't control. (Surprise, surprise. You'd think I would have learned that through all my years of addiction recovery, but sometimes my knowledge doesn't transfer well to other areas of my life.)

To make a long story short, here is my new plan:

I will let go of my need for worldly success.

I will surround myself with beauty.

I will nurture and protect my creativity.

I will create wonderful things, joyfully, courageously, and with reckless abandon.

I will offer my creations to the world in the best way I can find.

I will not worry about the size of my audience.

I will allow creating to be its own reward.

I will not worry about the opinions of others.

I will let go of guilt.

I will praise my efforts each day.

I will try new things.

I will do stuff that makes me happy.

I will remember that changing old habits and false beliefs takes time. I will be patient with the process.

I said that I would have to find a way to hope and dream again, and I think this is the way.

Most of these will need a specific plan for how I will accomplish it. That will come. But this is a great start. As soon as I committed myself to this plan, I churned out five pages on my novel yesterday!

So, again, thanks to you all! I will keep you posted.