No, not the song by Barenaked Ladies. But one week until NaNoWriMo (nanowrimo.org). In one week, or 7 days, or 168 hours or 10,080 minutes, thousands of people will be hyped up on coffee or tea, getting less sleep than they should, having no social lives (if they ever had one to begin with), and hoping that their imaginary friends will take them on a journey worth writing 50,000 words about.
Thankfully I have friends and family that I can ask random questions, where other people would judge my sanity. I have a notebook and word document that I can write in at any spare second of the day. I have my daily word count posted beside my desk. But most importantly, I have an idea. And if I may say, it is brilliant. I already have a strong outline from the help of one of my oldest friends, Ashley, and cannot wait to begin.
Whether you are ready or not, here it comes. And in the words of the Doctor:
"GERONIMO!!!"
Today is evaluate your life day. This day could be scary for some, but how else can you make sure that you are on the right track. My life right now boils down to several things: friends/family, writing/editing, school, training, and work (changing in order from day to day and hour to hour).
First of all, my family and friends are important to me. Once a week I like to drop my Oma an email telling her about anything exciting that happened or just how my week was. I grew up living next to my Oma and Opa and as a kid would always run next door after school and these little emails are still my way of running next door to them after school. Another one is my best friend, Laura. Although we haven't lived close to each other for several years, we still text and email about problems and our days and happy moments and have the occasional phone call that lasts at least an hour.
Second thing in my life is my writing and editing. I'm currently editing another book to be published with the help of friends and family, after having read it over several times myself. I'm also working on and planning another book that I'm going to write for this years NaNoWriMo. I love writing. It gives me a chance to be different people and to not be interrupted.
School is of course a big part of my life right now as I'm in grad school. To those that are currently in grad school or have been in grad school, you know what I'm talking about. Also with school I'm the Criminal Justice Student Association President where I get to talk to federal agents (yes, I have some awesome contacts in federal agencies) and arrange speakers and tours for the members.
Training is another big part of my life. I would say working out, but training sounds better for one, and training means that there is a goal that you want to accomplish at the end. For me, I'm training for my third Tough Mudder in 323 days.
Finally work. Last week I was promoted of sorts to House Management Supervisor. Basically meaning I get to do a little more work.
All in all, I love my life even with all of my weird medical stuff that has been going on this year. Yes, sometimes it's a bit stressful and challenging, but if it's not challenging, is it really worth it?
So, evaluate your life today. If you find that you don't like a specific thing, then ask yourself why and don't be afraid to make some changes for the better.
Lots of people have different traditions, relating to their culture, holidays they celebrate and way of life. One of my traditions is playing pool. Last winter, one of my best friends, Mike, and I were walking along as the snow flakes were falling on our faces. We were talking about our days and things that were on our minds that we wouldn't normally share with others. We came to a bar and the sign said that they had free pool on Mondays. We went in to warm up a bit and played some, then took a cold walk back.
Little did we know, that was the start of one of our traditions.
Almost every Monday night since, we walk down to the same bar, the bar tenders and bouncers all know us now, and we play pool for several hours. We watch sports and car races and just unwind from the day. Normally we walk along the beach on our way home, watching the waves crash over the dark sand while we talk about anything and everything.
Because of this tradition, Mondays never seem as bad as some people perceive them to be. Thanks Mike for our tradition.
