That’s part of the beauty of this process. Once you tickle your creativity, get out of its way!
You probably have heard people say, “I could write a book, but I don’t know where to start.” (Maybe you’ve said it.) The best place to start is, well, to startwriting. It sounds logical and simple but can be daunting and scary.
[Photo by Steve Piscitelli, 2024.]
Some days, you might compose 1,000 words. On other days, you find it difficult to put 100 words together. Keep writing. Give your creative juices room. Resist the initial urge to proofread everything you write. Get your thoughts and story started. Edit later.
Don’t give up.
To paraphrase Anne Lamott, the first draft will be crappy. Write it anyway.
I recommend Naming the World: And Other Exercises for the Creative Writer edited by Bret Anthony Johnston for ideas to jumpstart your writing. I found the “Daily Warm-Ups” section invaluable. Johnston provides pages of short prompts to get the juices flowing. Some require only five minutes. Others direct you to write for fifteen, twenty, or thirty minutes. Regardless of the length of time, your job is to write. Not edit. Not overthink. Just write and tap into your creativity.
As Johnston poignantly states,
Because each of us has so many pressures and responsibilities outside of our writing…and because so many distractions and indulgences conspire to lure us away from our art…devising strategies to capitalize on whatever time we can afford our writing is tantamount to success…If you devote the first few minutes of your writing day to completing one of these prompts, your work, and likewise your chances of getting published, will exponentially improve. (p. 332)
Consider these warm-up exercises as stretching before you dig into your project. They get you limbered up and ready to go. You might find (like I did occasionally) what you write for a warm-up might make a scene for your novel.
That’s part of the beauty of this process. Once you tickle your creativity, get out of its way!
Below is the first Daily Warm-Up exercise that Johnston presented. Following that, I have shared my unedited response.
Johnston:
“Spend five minutes describing an 8th dwarf to go along with Snow White’s seven.
My response first “crappy” draft:
Hi. I’m Distracted. The 8th one of the group that no one probably ever mentioned to you. The others get all the credit. Not that I’m jealous or anything. I mean, I get it. Those 7 and the mistress herself (Snow) have been around for almost a century. Yep, born in the 1930s or so. So their names reflect the times. None of them has any idea about cell phones, social media accounts, Tik Tok, or texting. They don’t know what it’s like to be on constant alert for an incoming message or call. I really do envy them as they have been able to lead a calm, slow-paced, and non-distracted life. Sure, they had occasional distractions—but they would go bonkers if they had to travel my road for just one hour. They might be sleepy, sneezy, and bashful—but they would need a real Doc if they were subjected to what I am minute by minute. No one in that era would survive. But then again, I’m not sure I’m doing much more than surviving from minute to minute. (182 words)
Remember, what you write here is unedited. You can find several issues with my piece above, like the misspelling of TikTok. But that is not the point of the exercise. Your task is to get your creative juices flowing. Get out of your way and write!
Now, it’s time you write and tap into your creativity. Use the prompt above. Set your timer for five minutes. Start writing.
The Donner story shows how as a community we can work for good. Rather than stand on the side and scream and holler, stand tall and act. ~ Joyce Freeman
On the night of February 21, 1994, the Atlantic Beach Fire Department responded to a fire in the Donner Road and Jordan Street area. The engine had a quick route to the blaze: Plaza to Sandpiper Lane and then left on Donner. That would have been about seven-tenths of a mile.
Unfortunately, the first responders had to travel past Sandpiper to Mayport Road and backtrack up Donner to Jordan. Not the most direct route, and nearly double the distance due to the detour. By the time the engine arrived, the building was consumed in flames. A single mother lost her home and belongings.
According to former Atlantic Beach Police Chief David Thompson (1983-2008), “There was a locked gate across the eastern end of Donner Road. The fire department had a key to the lock. They could either stop and unlock the gate or take Plaza to Mayport Road. I recall the fire chief timing it and determining that there was a significant delay in the response time due to the locked gate.”
While the Atlantic Beach Fire Chief wanted the gate removed according to Thompson, some residents argued that since the difference in response time was only a matter of a few minutes, the gate should remain in place.
“The fire chief told those people to hold their breath for a couple of minutes,” Thompson remembered. Those few minutes could be the difference between life and death in a rescue situation.
Why did the City of Atlantic Beach build and maintain a gate across an Atlantic Beach road that inhibited direct access to Atlantic Beach residents who wished to travel to the other side of Atlantic Beach? If Atlantic Beach residents living in the Donner area wanted to drive to the city hall, the beach, or any destination on the eastern side of their Atlantic Beach community, they had to travel west to Mayport Road, turn south, and then east on Plaza. Similar to the dilemma the public safety officials faced.
What appears to be the official reason comes from a grainy black-and-white photo provided by current Atlantic Beach City Clerk Donna Bartle. The handwritten notes on the page state, “In 1985, Donner Road was blocked off by closing a fence/gate due to FDER’s concerns about the security of the facility.” There was no name attributable to the quote. Bartle presumed it was the public works director at that time. The facility in question was the Atlantic Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant (labeled as WWTP on the map). See the image below.
According to Thompson’s recollection, a second gate separated the plant from the public. It may have been located on Sandpiper Lane. A survey map from the city shows a barrier on Donner Road, just east of Jordan Street. There is no such line on Sandpiper. (See image below. Provided by AB City Clerk.) If there was no gate on that side, that begs the question of “Why?” If the gate on Donner was to protect the WWTP, then why was it not protected on the other side of that gate? Were there other reasons for the gate?
Minutes from the City Commission meetings of March 14 and March 28, 1994, offer two more possible arguments why the gate separated two parts of the community: Traffic and crime.
William “Bill” Gulliford, who represented the Donner Community Development Corporation (DCDC) at that time, confirmed that a building company wanted to construct single-family homes in the Donner area but would not do it with the closed egress and ingress point at the eastern end of Donner Road. The minutes of March 14 corroborate his recollection.
Sharette Simpkins, the president of DCDC in 1994 and a 1995 EVE Award recipient for her community volunteer service to revitalize the Donner community, said Gulliford was a “big help” with rehabilitating the Donner area.
“In the 1990s, some of the neighborhoods were living as though they were in the 1950s,” Simpkins said of Donner. “Piled-up trash, problems with running water, poor roads, dilapidated homes, and street workers. With exceptions like Gulliford and Atlantic Beach City Manager Jim Jarboe, the City of Atlantic Beach did not care.” She also remembers the fire of February 1994.
Some Atlantic Beach residents said opening the gate would create a shortcut from Mayport Road, up Donner, to Sandpiper and then through the Selva Lakes community out to Seminole Road. Sam Kimball, a resident of Selva Lakes and a member of the Board of Directors of Selva Lakes Association, Inc. at that time, said increased traffic was the main concern for him and his neighbors. He and his wife “were chiefly concerned that, according to the plans shown us, our house would have been directly opposite the intersection and that we would be at risk of a car crashing through our backyard fence.”
At the March 28 meeting about 150 people packed the Atlantic Beach Commission chambers. Kimball delivered petitions signed by 170 residents. Their concern reflected the expected increased traffic for their community.
Kimball recently recalled, “When the city redesigned the intersection and explained how the project was intended as a step toward integrating a disadvantaged neighborhood into the community, we felt reassured.”
If both the chiefs of the fire and police departments called for the removal of the fence, why did it take years to remove it? Why the delay despite the concerns and warnings from the public safety officials?
There was a “lack of political power in the Black community,” Thompson said. “I don’t think Donner received a lot of attention and there was a lot of pushback to opening the gate.” Possibly, he thought, because there was a concern in the Selva Lakes area about the “negative impact on their investments and development should the gate be removed.”
By 1995, Beaches Habitat had built its first house in the Donner community. According to Freeman, that was the “beginning of the diversification of the Donner community.” Today, Freeman serves as the Family Services Director for Beaches Habitat.
Gulliford, who served as Mayor of Atlantic Beach from 1988-1993, also believes there could have been a racial consideration.
Thomson said the gate on Donner Road “represented all the wrong things both socially and from an EMS [Emergency Medical Services] standpoint. Yes, it was for the security of the WWTP but it also was a way to separate two communities within Atlantic Beach: Selva Lakes and Donner.”
Kimball of the Selva Lakes Association said his neighbors also had concerns about “the high crime rate and drug trafficking in the Donner neighborhood.”
Joanna DeLoach Fletcher, the late mayor’s wife, said the gate’s construction allowed people to walk but not drive around it to get to Sandpiper Lane and the eastern side of Atlantic Beach. In rainy weather, it was a muddy mess to traverse. “If it was not constructed for racial reasons, then fear of the Donner neighborhood played a major role in its construction and maintenance over the years,” she said.
Simpkins echoed this sentiment. While there was a concern about crime, if you looked at how the gate was erected, “it was not going to stop potential criminals.”
On March 28, 1994, the Atlantic Beach City Commission voted 5-0 to open the gate that had closed off the eastern end of Donner Road.
If there were concerns about the security of the WWTP, why was the gate removed in 1994?
Former Chief Thompson said, “Over time, relative to security, I know the hazardous chemicals were secured in locked gates within the plant, and security measures including motion sensors and hazardous chemical release sensors were installed. As the security technology evolved, the necessity for the fence was no longer as important as it was in the 1980s.”
“In the end, the need and want to open access proved to be bigger than the fear.” DeLoach Fletcher said.
When the City Commission voted to open the gate for a six-month trial period, it created a twenty-member volunteer ad hoc committee. Freeman, Gulliford, Kimball, and Simpkins were among the members. Their charge was to monitor the gate opening and report their findings. Each of the four told me they did not remember meeting.
Chief Thompson said the same. “There were concerns raised relative to the impact on the neighborhoods nearby. I lived in Selva Linkside for many years, and I never saw any problems relative to the opening of the gate. The gate was opened, the roadway paved, and the fire department was able to improve their response time to this part of the community.” This sentiment was repeated often by those interviewed for this article.
“If anything,” Thompson added, “we increased traffic on the Donner Community as the opened road became a convenient cut-through to Mayport from Linkside.”
Simpkins had a similar recollection. “Most of the people I saw coming through the gate were bicyclists coming from the inner part of the city into the Jordon Park area.”
In a September 1994 meeting, the City of Atlantic Beach voted to “remove the cyclone fence gates,” pave the road and build a sidewalk for pedestrians and bikes. According to a Beaches Leader report, Atlantic Beach Public Works Director Bob Kosoy said, “I haven’t heard any complaints… Seems like more people are using it going toward Mayport Road than the other way around.”
“Once the gate was removed, it was a non-issue,” Gulliford said.
Fast forward to September 2023, when the City of Atlantic Beach completed an 18-month improvement project on Donner Road. It included wider traffic lanes and a larger sidewalk to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. At the dedication of the revamped road, Mayor Curtis Ford said, “Donner Road is a key east-west route in Atlantic Beach that takes us across Mayport Road. I’m hoping that the continuation of our Complete Streets Plan will make this an active byway heading east to the beach from the western part of our city.” (Beaches Leader, 9/14/2023).
Joyce Freeman believes today that the Donner story “shows how as a community we can work for good. Rather than stand on the side and scream and holler, stand tall and act.”
You might need someone to help you sort things out but you remain your thought leader. Believe in yourself.
~~~~~
Thought Leader.
Another label (buzzword) that has been around for a while. It describes someone seen as an expert who can lead and inspire others. You’ve probably seen it on websites, in articles, or heard it in speaker introductions.
I understand the reference, yet the term has a strange feel for me. Maybe it’s semantics. The idea that someone would lead my thoughts is a bit unsettling. Almost like thought control or mind control. You know, kind of like, Follow me! I am your thought leader!
How about you help me clarify but I lead my own thoughts? Maybe I can be a thought stimulator. But you remain the thought leader.
When I have facilitated workshops, delivered a keynote, or worked one-on-one, I have always viewed the people in front of me as thought leaders within their environment. Them, not me. My job might have been to introduce new ideas, a different way of looking at an old situation, or to encourage the audience to consider a plan of action. But I never considered myself theirthought leader.
Thought Stimulation at a Conference Session. San Antonio, TX. 2012
Even when I led campus committees (prior to my retirement as a professor) or spoke to the college’s Board of Trustees, wrote student success textbooks, or taught classes, my job was to facilitate conversations and encourage people to believe in themselves. To dig deep and discover what they had to offer. Deliberative conversations bring thoughts to the forefront and allow critical thinking and evaluation.
I tried to be more of a “Questionator!”
You might need someone to help you sort things out but you remain your thought leader. Believe in yourself. Be willing to listen, converse, disagree, learn, adjust, tweak, change, and grow.
My website states, “You are the true thought leaders within and for your community.”
Information about my newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement (2023), (eBook and paperback versions) will be found here.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land(2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
“The way to make people trustworthy is to trust them.” ~attributed to Ernest Hemingway
~~~~~
My last post examined how our anxiety loops can pack a debilitating wallop to our emotional and physical well-being. The loops become habits and can end up ruling our lives.
Do you ever find yourself in that anxiety loop due to a lack of trust? The trust issue may be with someone else or it may be with yourself (more on that below). You ruminate and catastrophize because you must trust someone else, but you cannot. I know I have tunneled down that rabbit hole far too many times. It has never been helpful.
One Face of Truth
After one such situation (involving a contractor doing a small job at our home), I asked myself “Why? Why was my go-to point one of distrust of a person (company) that I had vetted, received recommendations about, weighed options, and did my due diligence before engaging?” And, in the long run, everything turned out fabulous (like it typically does in such situations for me).
When I face a situation outside of my realm of experience I can find myself drifting into overplanning mode. I worry about what is to come and what might happen. The result is off-the-chart catastrophizing about things I have no control over like the workers, weather, materials, or results.
Here is the interesting thing for me. As I recently took a moment to examine the commonalities of these worry-intensive moments, I asked myself, “Why does the persistent voice in my head have me on high alert for non-existing sabretooth tigers?”
More pointedly, “How many times did I actually get screwed by a contractor, salesperson, or contract?”
I can’t remember many (any?) times. Yet the distrust persists.
Of course, there were times when my “homework” led me away from a person, company, situation, or event—and my decision proved prudent, safe, and wise. I do not discount that. However, my overthinking often does not help and may hinder me.
Ernest Hemingway is credited with saying, “The way to make people trustworthy is to trust them.”
Another Face of Truth
I would add, “And trust yourself.” Yes, we need to beware and be prepared. We need to do our homework. But where can we find a healthy balance between proper planning and overanalyzing?
I’ve often heard or read about people who speak of surrendering to those things out of their control. I never bought into that mindset. It seemed a cop-out. Until recently.
I am rethinking that. At times, I need to stop, breathe, surrender, and move forward.
Information about my newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement (2023), (eBook and paperback versions) will be found here.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
Is this how I want to live the remaining years of my life?
~~~~~
We all have experienced the challenges associated with having too many things on our to-do lists. We add and add and add and…
There are times when the “to-dos” are critical “must-dos” for you and your significant others. Other times, these tasks can lead us down a path of worry, anxiety, fretting, and injury. Let’s call these the things we need to not do. That was one of the reasons behind my suggestion of creating a “To-Don’t List.”
When you create your “To-Don’t List” you may want to add “What ifs?” The what-if mindset can create an emotional vulnerability that leads to debilitating self-doubt. I know those two words, what if, can exhaust me if I am not on guard.
Sometimes, living a life of what-ifs can lead to anxiety, pain, and confusion.
In his book Unwinding Anxiety, Judson Brewer urges the reader to recognize how the three-step anxiety loop packs a debilitating wallop to our emotional and physical well-being. The loop becomes a habit.
First, there is a TRIGGER. Something that tells the brain, “You need to be on alert/high alert.”
Second, you engage in BEHAVIOR based on, generally, past behavior to the same trigger. Call it an automatic response.
Third, you receive the RESULT of the behavior.
Perhaps every time you have to present a proposal (the trigger), you enter a never-ending what-if cycle of all that could go sideways and you fret and worry (the behavior). Consequently, you don’t sleep the night before, your stomach is in knots, and you are a hot mess as you walk into the meeting (the result).
Are you happy with that result? Does that result help you do a better job? Is it a healthy response? I’d guess that the answer to those questions is a resounding NO.
Brewer suggests that we get curious. When we see ourselves entering a situation that is the trigger for an expected unhelpful loop, stop and identify what we are about to do—and the result it will invariably bring. Is there a different way—a better way—to behave? What else can we do that is healthy and will lead us to a more productive result? Do this often enough and we can replace the debilitating loop with a more energizing (read: healthy) one.
Recently, one of my triggers was about to set off the usual anxious and unhelpful/unhealthy behaviors. I knew what the result would be for me. Increased cortisol levels, grouchiness, lack of clear thinking, and just a real pain in the keester to be around. That day I stopped as I was about to engage in unhealthy anxious behavior. I got curious and I asked myself a question.
In my remaining years of life, is this how I want to live?
The answer came quickly. No. I do not.
How about you?
What healthy adjustments can you make to your triggers to bring about a less anxious result?
How do you want to live your life going forward?
~~~~~
VIDEO RECOMMENDATION
Click here to see a quick interview with Brewer about this loop.
Information about my newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement (2023), (eBook and paperback versions) will be found here.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
What may appear to be an arrow or a sword we can actually experience as a flower… It depends on our relationship with ourselves.” ~Pema Chodron
~~~~~
All of us have experienced those moments when something or someone has shattered us, left us gasping for air, triggered shame, or made us feel violated and angry. We feel wounded as if someone had thrown an arrow or sword in our direction.
Pema Chodron asks us to reflect on our reactions when unbearable or unacceptable situations present themselves. Does the situation make us stop, think, and gain wisdom? Or do we lash out towards others or ourselves in an unhelpful manner?
We feel the sword. But can we turn it into a flower for possibilities? Building on Buddhist teachings, Chodron believes we can. Consider:
~Following a mass shooting in our country, a victim’s family member said she was looking to turn the unspeakable tragedy into an opportunity for good.
*The SWORD: A mass shooting leaves death and destruction. *The FLOWER of possibilities: Create a movement for good, awareness, and change.
Photos by Steve Piscitelli
~When our canine companion Roxie made her transition to the Rainbow Bridge, I was devastated. When that day came, and Laurie and I sat on the floor in the veterinarian’s examining room with Roxie, my emotions exploded.
*SWORD: I kept holding on to what I had lost. Nothing would bring her back. Ever. I continued in the memory loop that brought more tears and a feeling of hopelessness and aimlessness. I was not much company for myself or anyone else. *FLOWER: Roxie was now at peace and we had time to take a breath. We could focus fully on our health and well-being. I also reached out to one of the pet therapy programs Roxie and I served. I will be helping facilitate that program. Sure, Roxie is still dead. The situation is the same, but my perception changed. Light entered the dark room of my mind. Instead of a sword, I held a flower.
~At the end of 2021 I “finished” my first novel manuscript. All of my previous books had been non-fiction, so this project stretched me. Still, 90,000 words later I had “finished” writing and started querying agents. I made sixty-five queries and received sixty-five rejections.
*SWORD. I blamed, shamed, castigated, and berated the process as well as myself. I hung out with “what-did-you-expect-you’re-not-a-novelist” and mentally pummeled myself. I threw the manuscript into the metaphorical drawer and slammed it shut. *FLOWER. I read a “how-to” book by one of my favorite novelists. I followed that with an online course (with another accomplished novelist) on writing fiction, which led me to pull my manuscript from the drawer. I saw that my “finished” manuscript had been anything but. I labored through a major rewrite. The new version is now being reviewed. I will then continue the editing process. The odds remain minimal that I will find an agent, but my approach is healthier and the product is more polished.
I could have continued throwing myself on the metaphorical sword—and the manuscript would never have seen the light of day. Now, at least, I have a chance of landing an agent.
Think about your situation. Perhaps someone has lied about what you stand for. That hurts. A lot. You can escalate the stakes and engage in a sword fight. Or find the lesson (the flower) that will allow you to further exemplify who you are positively, forthrightly, and ethically. Tough? Yes. Wiser? Probably so.
The sword or the flower. The choice may be difficult or seem impossible. Yet, that choice belongs to us.
My newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement, (eBook and paperback versions) was released on January 1, 2023. Click here for more information.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
We can all benefit when we acknowledge and embrace that the light of wisdom shines from generation to generation.
~~~~
What does wisdom mean?
The answer to that question differs from person to person, group to group, and day to day. We can define wisdom as insight, good judgment, common sense, and wise action. I think, however, you can see the rub. What you consider insight, good judgment, common sense, and wise action will be viewed by someone else as lacking in all those qualities.
When I asked a second-grade class what advice younger students need to consider, six words came from one of the students.
Learn How to Tie Your Shoes!
On the surface, the answer seems cute, obvious, and lacking wisdom. “Of course, we need to learn to tie our shoes!” you might say. Someone else might counter with, “No need to do that. I wear slip-on loafers!”
I’d suggest we pause, move beyond the literal words, and consider a deeper meaning. Does the statement conjure images of personal growth or individual freedom? After all, when we learned to tie our shoes, we became more independent from our parents. We walked with less fear of tripping on the laces by securing those loops and knots.
The point? No matter how old or young the wisdom sharer may be, his or her words can hold a deeper meaning. Are we ready to allow those thoughts to enter our minds for consideration?
My new book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement, has more than 300 responses to three questions. As you read it, you will see similar and different perspectives between and within age groups. The respondents’ ages range from 7 years old to 100 years old.
Who determines what responses are wise and which are not? What is the rubric? Is wisdom contingent upon where we stand and what our experiences have been? Or is wisdom fluid and ever-changing?
We can all benefit when we acknowledge and embrace that the light of wisdom shines from generation to generation.
[The above comes from pages 1-2 of my book Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement.]
My newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement, (eBook and paperback versions) was released on January 1, 2023. Click here for more information.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
We stumble from room to room looking for bright spots. Making do. Or perhaps we recognize we need to change.
~~~~
This piece came to me from two disparate sources. One from a Henry David Thoreau quote. The other by way of an HGTV series.
Two sources that you would not normally see in the same line, paragraph, story, or book. Bear with me.
Thoreau’s (attributed) quote, “No one is as old as those who have outlived enthusiasm,” reminds us that the concepts of age and old are not only associated with the number of years that have passed in one’s life. We have all met so-called old people who have more energy, cheer, joy, pep, and smiles than people half their age. They have enthusiasm for life. They greet each day—or at least, most days—with interest and purposeful emotion. These energizing bunnies bring light to any space they enter. They see the world with wide-eyed optimism, hope, and promise.
Conversely, you have endured the soul-sucking presence of people who always find problems, slights, inconvenience, tribulations, and boredom from the moment they place their feet on the floor each morning. They squint their eyes, letting in as little light as possible. Enthusiasm is a foreign concept.
One builds a house of light and wonder. The other lives in a darkened structure.
This leads us to the HGTV series: The Ugliest House in America. The host travels to different regions of the United States looking for those houses (nominated by their owners) with disjointed architecture, hideous décor, terrifying design, and questionable functionality. These are homes the homeowners themselves have little enthusiasm in which to live. At the end of the season, one of the homes is declared “The Ugliest House in America” and wins a $150,000 makeover. A lot of laughs and a lot of “What in the world were they thinking?”
The HGTV show uses three scales to rate ugly homes. The higher the score, the uglier the structure.
The Connection.
I have periods when enthusiasm is difficult to find. You, too, I would guess. We find ourselves in a funk or confused about where we are and what we should do next. It can be a joyless time for us and those around us. We might feel as though, in our mind, we live in the ugliest house in America. We stumble from room to room looking for bright spots. Making do. Or perhaps we recognize we need to change our thinking, planning, and direction. Instead of a renovation, we engage in a repurposement. Where are we going? What do we want to do?
Maybe, like the HGTV series, we would do well to develop an enthusiasm scale for what we do. Let’s say your scale is “1” (not much enthusiasm) to “4” (off-the-chart enthusiasm). I choose to use an even number for the scales, eliminating the cop-out of gravitating to the middle number. With an even number scale, you are either leaning toward enthusiasm or away from it.
For instance, mornings you’ll find me on the beach at sunrise. Most of the time, that earns a “4” on the enthusiasm scale. At times, though, the number drops. Not because of the beach, clouds, sun, or temperature. They are all part of the texture and add to my enthusiasm. It dips if someone interrupts the solitude with a lot of yammering and negative vibes. Once I identify that I start adjusting the next morning to keep the enthusiasm high.
The scale helps me engage in a renovation of sorts. After all, I don’t want to live in the ugliest home in America (especially if it is in my mind and heart).
How do your daily activities measure up on that scale?
My newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement, in eBook and paperback was released on January 1, 2023. Click here for more information.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
May you find peace in the new year and a distraction-free zone to catch your breath.
~~~~
(If Snow White brought on an 8th protégé, what would his or her name be? Read on for one possibility.)
Hi. I’m Distracted. The 8th and, probably, the one never mentioned to you.
The others get all the credit. Not that I’m jealous or anything. I mean, I get it. Those Seven and the lady herself (Snow) have been around for almost a century. Yep, born in the 1930s or so. So perhaps their names reflect the times. And they—the originals—even have a more recent movie version about their escapades.
None of the other seven, though, has any idea about cell phones, social media accounts, Tik Tok, or texting. They don’t know what it’s like to be on constant alert for an incoming message or call. I really do envy them as they have been able to lead calmer, slower-paced, and less distracted lives. Sure, they had occasional distractions—but they would go bonkers if they had to travel my road for just one hour. They might be Sleepy, Sneezy, and Bashful—but they would need a real Doc if they were subjected to what I am minute by minute. I’m not sure any of the 7 (or Snow, herself) would survive.
But then again, I’m not sure I’m doing much more than surviving from minute to minute with my weapons of mass distraction as constant companions.
How about you? Do you feel distracted, too?
May you experience more distraction-free moments and increase your inner peace throughout 2023.
My newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School toRetirement was released (eBook and paperback) on January 1, 2023. Click here for more information.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
My newest book, Sharing Wisdom Across the Ages: From Elementary School to Retirement, in eBook and paperback was released on January 1, 2023. Click here for more information.
And you can still order:
Roxie Looks for Purpose Beyond the Biscuit (2020), in eBook and paperback format. Click here.
Community as a Safe Place to Land (2019, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. More information (including seven free podcast episodes that spotlight the seven core values highlighted in the book) is at the above link.
Stories about Teaching: No Need to be an Island (2017, print and e-book). Available on Amazon. One college’s new faculty onboarding program used the scenarios in this book. Contact me if you and your team are interested in doing the same. The accompanying videos (see the link above) could serve to stimulate community-building conversations at the beginning of a meeting.
You can find my podcasts (all fifty episodes) here.
A functioning community moves beyond listing and reciting core values. It shares and lives those values. And, it provides a safe place for its members to explore, stretch, learn, fail, and grow.
Steve is not a life coach and does not provide legal advice. He facilitates conversations and helps raise and confront important questions about what we do, why we do it, and how we do it.
The Growth and Resilience Network® 