New Year Try

As part of my being more involved with my writing this year resolution I have decided to do my best to post in this blog at least five times per week. I will of course be asking for topics from readers as well as people that follow me on Facebook and Twitter as well as writing things that happen to just dart into my mind on occasion.

Today being the first of the year I am understandably thinking about new beginnings. With the new year always comes the inevitable diets and exercise routines that generally last for six weeks to potentially three months on the outside. People fill their cupboards with healthy snacks and create charts to watch their calorie intake each day. They obsessively download apps and buy books to lose weight, get in shape and just improve health as an overall goal.

I, of course, have my own health, wellness and fitness goals but they tend to be spread out throughout the year. That way I don't start out with the momentum of the new year and then fade as so many others do. I have my food and calorie counter, my trainer designed diet. I have supplements as well as personal equipment such as weights and my bike to help me and then the gym for advance training.

Some of the other exercises I have for my goals however are writing related. I have been dreaming of becoming a successful writer for years but there have always been obstacles in my way. One of the largest for many years was my personal appearance. I look back and think about how silly it is that what I looked like could cause me to hide when all I was doing was creating from the safety of a keyboard.

Yet it did. I would avoid the mirror because I was embarrassed to look at myself and if I couldn't stand the site of me I was sure no one else would want to either. A few posts ago I even included a picture of what I used to look like. That overweight unhappy girl was ashamed of everything, including her writing. I was scared it would never be good enough and even more terrified that it might be accepted and I would have to go out in public and acknowledge it was mine.

Part of my journey has been to make goals that help me realize my self worth. I did finally lose a significant amount of weight. I finished that book as well as my charity anthology and have been a writing machine ever since. I did a number of signings this past year where I was out in public as the face of my work and I stood proudly by it.

I workout to keep myself in a shape I am comfortable being. I even was able to take on a position a few years ago that demonstrated the newly found pride I had in my body, I became a party pit dealer.

This rare selfie was taken in one of the uniforms I wore in that position. The fact that I was able to progress and have the self confidence to do my job in that outfit was huge for me. It is something I look at and tie right back into my writing.

I want to continue to have that sense of accomplishment and so am reaching out more and more to create works that test my limits as well as help me find new avenues I can explore. I have taken on a reading challenge in order to grow as a reader and a writer. I am working on multiple pieces simultaneously and will be submitting many of them throughout the year.

What are you doing with the dawn of this new year?