January is off to a good start so far. I mean, compared to 2016, it has all the makings of a real winner. By this time last year, I was just starting to be poked, prodded and tested by a variety of –ologists trying to figure out what might be causing me to feel shortness of breath moving just 20 feet across the room. Through a process of elimination and the presence of some timely blood clots in my chest that smiled for the camera just after Valentine’s day, we found the culprit. But as of this time, we still didn’t know. By this time last year, we had already lost David Bowie and in less than a week from now, Glenn Frey. And in another couple of weeks at this time last year, we’ll be introduced to the Zika virus. Can you remember what you were doing and thinking about at this time last year?
January is definitely off to a better start here. My numbers have been good at the only doctor’s appointment so far. In just a few weeks, I’ll be moving further away from last year’s pulmonary emboli episode by bidding bye-bye to the world of blood thinners (I hope). And here’s a shocker: this insomniac has gotten sleep most nights in the new year. Can you believe that? Me neither, but I have the coherence, energy and lack of yawns to prove it. And after a very emotionally-charged and stressful holiday season during which my dad was in the hospital for 20 days, I got to bring him back to his home in the new year where he is taking life one day at a time following major surgery.
So, yeah, I’m liking this January. I may not be looking forward to the ‘changing of the guard’ later this month, but I have faith in the good people that feel the same way I do in much more powerful positions than me who I know will do everything they can to take people to task for what they say and do the next four years, as should always be done when anyone holds as important and impactful a role as President of the United States. Anyone in a position of power must be held accountable for their words and their actions, and I also will trust in the most esteemed and credible journalists to do their part. And it probably will be harder than ever to do that but I count on them to step up to defend their right to do their jobs.
We’re not even two weeks into the new year but I somehow feel settled. I feel replenished compared to where he was a month ago, to where I was this time last year. One thing that helped was paring down where I could in my obligations so that I am not spent from the moment I wake up each day. A key way I did this was by pulling back on daily social media. It has allowed me greater freedom with my time and also compels me to use social media more as a means to share what inspires and inspire others, rather than blab for the sake of creating posts or simply tout books I’ve written. Sure, I’d love for someone who enjoys reading my blogs or interacting with me to be interested enough to want to read more of me but I’m sooooooooooooooooo tired and drain by the self-publishing game.
I am proud of my work and it is there on Amazon.com if you’d like to take a look as well as in an awesome little bookstore in my alma mater hometown of Tallahassee (My Favorite Books) but I have more to say in various ways. I am more than those two books. Right now, I am a self-quarantined creative, a writer in flux. I have books I want to write for others. I have books I want to write for myself. But at the moment, I am letting my heart lead me to wherever I aim to go with no set place in mind to drop those ideas and musings. It may not be in a book. I’m really not sure. But when I know what that is, you’ll be the first to know, I assure you.
Hello, 2017. I’m not sure what you have in store for all of us but after last year, I’m not as frightened of you as I imagined I’d be. In fact, I couldn’t be happier to see you and ride whatever waves you roll my way. ~ Chris K xo
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