The group on Facebook (you can join too – click here) provides not just encouragement and inspiration, but accountability too.
To recap, in case you missed it: I challenged people to consider getting rid of a set number of things in your life every day for a year. I committed to getting rid of five things, but everyone can pick their number and some in the group chose to pick a number for each week. We’re flexible and friendly, so don’t be intimidated.
Initially, I thought the ‘things’ I would be getting rid of would be tangible items – all the crap cluttering my closets, house, office, barn, car, etc., but the group has definitely expanded that idea. Some people are clearing out their computer files, the pictures on their phones, attitudes that restrict them, rules that bind, even people that drag down their souls.
This past week I started the Lighten Your Load, Lighten Your Life Challenge. It’s a personal challenge to remove 5 things from my life every day of 2024.
I’ve invited others to join me (and pick their own number). Together in a private Facebook group we are sharing ideas, support, and a few laughs, plus offering accountability with optional daily reports of how we’ve lightened our loads.
When I set out to do this, I expected maybe a handful of my friends might join me, and even made two friends to promise they would join, so I wouldn’t look pathetic if someone I didn’t know decided to join.
To my happy surprise, lots of people have joined the group and the number grows every day (you can join us too! Click here to read the original post and to find the link to our group). It’s been fun and inspiring to see what everyone’s unloading, plus I’ve already gotten a ton of great tips (did you know that Smartwool has a sock recycling program?).
“The brain makes up 1/50th of our body mass but consumes a staggering 1/5th of the calories we burn for energy.”
I read that this morning in the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, and I’ve been thinking about it since. I’m not sure there’s a better argument for eating well and for managing your blood sugar.
The end of the year is just off to the left, there, in the shadows. Are you ready for it? Have you accomplished what you set out to do in 2023?
It’s not too late to throw in a few last-minute hail-Mary goals to aspire to. By my count, you’ve got more than seven weeks—that’s a lot of time. Plenty of time to establish a new habit, break an old one, wrap up a project, or at least make real progress.
This close to the finish line of 2023, I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve moved forward on all my writing projects, even if none of them have seen the publishing light of day. I’ve reestablished the discipline of writing every day, and put practices into place to protect that time. And I’m connecting with myself and the earth, every morning before anyone else (well, except the dogs) gets any of me.
There’s one goal I’m falling way behind on, but to be honest, it was a reach goal to begin with. That said, I haven’t thrown in the towel yet. I’ve got seven weeks to reach it. Seven!
Some of you might be in the same predicament. In fact, I snooped around online and discovered that while many of my friends are on target to reach their goals, plenty of others are as far behind as me or worse!
What common goal are we all striving for?
Our Goodreads goal! (Here’s where the lot of you who roll their eyes at the idea of Goodreads can take their leave—or not.)
In 2022, for the first time, I read 100 books. Actually, I’m sure I read that many books or more as a child/teen but back then there was no Goodreads or Internet or Computers…but we did have libraries, by God, with card catalogs (which were a love of mine—I’m still in search of my own card catalog. Where did they all go? What did all the libraries do with them?).
Feeling overly puffed up about reaching 100 books last January, I decided to up the ante and made my goal for 2023 112 books. That’s only one more a month. Surely, I could do that! And I had an Audible subscription, that had to count for something.
But here we are in the second week of November, and I am 14 books behind my pace, or 31 books to go to reach my goal.
That’s crazy numbers. Unless…I find a few workarounds.
How about children’s books?
Short stories?
Goodreads doesn’t define what ‘book’ means, so last night I listened to Sorry for Your Loss on Audible, which is technically a comedy show, but performed by a writer (and stand-up). It was wonderful (highly recommend it). I typed it into the search bar on Goodreads and there it was – so I marked it read. 30 to go now.
Will I make it to my goal? I’m not laying any odds on this, but it sure won’t be for lack of trying.
Because that’s what it really comes down to for me…forward progress. I am moving myself, my mind, my writing, my life forward. And that’s what matters the most.
How about you? Are you moving forward? What can you do to make that happen in seven weeks? I bet a lot.
If you’re a writer who wants help with that, consider working with me one on one. You can find more information about my 4-week coaching program here.
Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’ve got lots of options, so thanks for sharing a few of your minutes with me.
Honored,
Cara
My latest novel, Blind Turn is a mother-daughter story of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. Learn more about it and find out how to get your copy here.
If you’re curious about what else I’m up to, check out my website, CaraWrites.com.
If you’d like to subscribe to my occasional e-newsletter, click here.
And If you’re a dog lover, check out my other blog, Another Good Dog. And if you want to know what is really happening in the animal shelters in this country, visit, Who Will Let the Dogs Out.
My book, 100 Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues is available anywhere books are sold, but if you’d like some help finding it (or want to read some lovely reviews), click here.
I’ve been thinking a lot about living intentionally.
Partially because ten years ago I wrote a book called, Live Intentionally.
I’ve thought about updating it and releasing a ten-year anniversary book. As I’ve read back through some of it, I see a glimpse of who I was and how clearly I have grown. I’m still just as much an idealist. I still believe in people and their power to improve their lives through intentionality.
Much of what I wrote I still practice. But the world is different now. Incredibly different! There was no ‘social media’ then, at least not in the form it is now. Facebook was out there, but the internet was not on every phone. There was no organic aisle in the grocery store, and most people had no concept of what ‘grass-fed’ meant, and keeping chickens or hanging your clothes on a line to dry was not a hip thing to do. (Not sure those things are hip now either, but at least a lot more people are doing them.)
This year I’ve returned to my focus of living intentionally every day – not just what I eat or read or watch, but how I think, treat people, react to news, and decide how to spend my time. As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been setting daily intentions and sharing them on Facebook and Instagram. Here are a few from this week:
They provide an anchor for my day. I’ve been reading farther and wider, consuming podcasts on mindset, refocusing on how I care for my body, and giving my mind and heart more space and quiet to consider what really matters moment by moment. More than anything I’ve been trying to stay present.
Recently, I heard a concept called ‘day-tight compartments’ originally a principle promoted by Dale Carnegie to combat worry. The idea is that you stay in today, and don’t let what happened yesterday or what might happen tomorrow affect how you are today.
Many of us let regrets from our past follow us, bringing with them shame, guilt, sadness, hurt, and fear. We experience it over and over. I replay conversations and actions in my head, often wishing I’d done something (or someone else had) differently. I’ll follow the what ifs down a rabbit hole only to emerge freshly disappointed, discouraged, frustrated, and realize it changes nothing.
The same with worrying. I’m a mom, so it comes with the territory, right? My youngest parroted something back to me that I used to have as a mantra – No sense in wasting emotion on something that hasn’t happened yet. Why feel sadness/fear/anger about something that might happen—if it doesn’t you’ve experienced sadness/fear/anger for no reason. And if it does, you can feel those things then.
Stay present in your daytight container. Seal that lid tight like a Tupperware container and stay inside it. Be here now. Listen to the people in front of you. Feel whatever is in your heart in response to what is happening right now. You can’t change what’s already happened or control what might. Don’t squander your present.
Dogs are a great reminder of this philosophy. They are always in the moment. Reacting and reveling in what is happening now. Gracie never worries about how angry I’ll be that she rolled in the dead possum/rabbit poop/unidentifiable stink, she just enjoys her time rolling and stinking in the moment. Otis never considers that last week when he stood barking for ten minutes at the neighbors having a BBQ, I dragged him back to the house and left him inside alone, he barks his heart out anew. Clearly, enjoying the sound of his voice.
Sure, we should learn from what has happened in the past. But that doesn’t mean now isn’t a new scenario, one that is best experienced fresh with no assumptions that what has happened before will happen again. Give this moment, right now, your energy, your focus. Don’t let regret or worry color it.
Keep your eyes open and your ears available. The possibilities are endless if you’re open to the possibilities. Make room in your heart for now.
Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’ve got lots of options, so thanks for sharing a few of your minutes with me.
Honored,
Cara
My latest novel, Blind Turn is a mother-daughter story of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. Learn more about it and find out how to get your copy here.
If you’re curious about what else I’m up to, check out my website, CaraWrites.com.
If you’d like to subscribe to my occasional e-newsletter, click here.
And If you’re a dog lover, check out my other blog, Another Good Dog. And if you want to know what is really happening in the animal shelters in this country, visit, Who Will Let the Dogs Out.
My book, 100 Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues is available anywhere books are sold, but if you’d like some help finding it (or want to read some lovely reviews), click here.
I struggle when the days are gray and cold and I can’t be outside enough. This year, my winter was better for a number of reasons, but the one thing that got me through was getting outside every single day, even when the weather was crappy.
For Christmas, I got the book The Open Air Life by Linda Akeson McGurk. It’s a beautiful gifty book that probably could have been a long article, but it did inspire me to get outside by reminding me that there’s no excuse, you just need the right gear/attire.
So I layered and bundled up and started walking, and eventually running up the dirt roads near our house. The roads wobble up and down and side to side, along cow pastures, farms, and a few homes. I’ve gotten to know them well and I’m on a first name basis with a few of the cows (number 10 and number 545 are my favorites).
I listen to podcasts or audiobooks pretty much every day – while walking, doing puzzles, or driving (three activities I seem to spend a lot of time doing).
I’ve gotten addicted to a podcast called Primal Potential. I found it because I was trying to figure out how to lose the menopause/COVID/drinking-too-much-wine-weight that is not going away even though two out of those three causes have.
I listened to a podcast recently in which the author reflected on applying social media algorithms to her life.
Her basic point was this – When you click/react/comment/share clothing ads or true crime or dog rescue or particular politics or people, Facebook (and the other social media feeds) fills your feed with more of the same.
So, the more you click on one topic/opinion/person, the more you are bombarded with more of the same, and the less you see of opposing viewpoints or other topics or particular ‘friends’.
Which explains how when a person spends a lot of time on social media, our world can become skewed. We might begin to see the world through a different lens—the lens being curated by a bot that feeds back to you more of the same. Just like a Pandora playlist.
I was recently reminded of the value of taking little steps to achieve a big goal. If you’re a football fan, you are probably familiar with the phrase, “It’s a game of inches,” made popular by a screaming Al Pacino in the 1999 film, Any Given Sunday.
I truly believe that writing is also a game of inches. That’s how I wrote my very first novel. I had no idea what I was doing and it would be another ten years before that book actually became a published novel, but I started by simply telling myself to write a few paragraphs every day.
Writing a book seemed impossible, even writing a chapter, but a paragraph? I could do that.
My Life in Paragraphs 