Month: January 2013

two days in…

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the days that changed my life

Holding on… Just!

I’ve never seriously made resolutions before, so I’ve never kept any. I’ve recognised things were lacking, such as the lack of discipline in my life, and I’ve fretted over it, at just the same time as a sermon on discipline in the believer’s life began on radio. Spooky… call it fate, call it a God-incidence… but I never seriously acted on it.
Two days in, how’s it going? Well, the third resolution (to write every day) is hanging by a thread! The intention was there, but due to the time difference. the ‘new post’ suggestion wasn’t there before I had to go out. I didn’t have inspiration of my own either as I often do.Once I got back, I fell asleep in my wheelchair for the whole evening… so frustrating! Getting up this early is my way of making up for that!

What about Resolutions one and two?

The other resolutions, to take weight loss seriously, and to have bible/prayer time every day are going ok. When I chose what I was going to eat yesterday, my carer was impressed at my menu choices of cordial and soda, and soup. What she doesn’t know is I finished the banana bread when I got home. Somehow that doesn’t feel so bad because it has a mixture of wholemeal and plain flour in it rather than just plain flour, so I’m sort of excusing it!
I did have Jesus time yesterday, though I kept falling asleep. I kept battling, so that I read a bit before I slept again rather than going straight back to sleep as I would before. Bit of battle already! Unfortunately, that’s how my life is at the moment. Intentional things get done if I manage to stay awake. Not impressed that I lost a whole evening to sleep as I have a fast approaching deadline, but there it is, no going back, only forwards!
Here’s to keeping the three resolutions this year. Just hanging in there. but that will have to do. I’m off back to bed, and hopefully to sleep. Otherwise I’d only raid the fridge again, as I did before I starting writing this. What did I just say about resolutions hanging by a thread?!

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Daily Prompt 2/1/13

’10…, 9…, 8….’

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A picture of a firework just as it explodes into multiple colours in the night sky.

On the stroke of midnight, I was where I (almost) always am. If you’d asked me at midday if I would be where I wanted to be I’d probably had scoffed and said I’d rather be anywhere else, but preferably with my family. I always miss them, but I especially missed them last night. I’ve spent 29 New Years Eve’s with them. This one was different. At midday, I’d have told you the telly would be rubbish and I would rather have been with my parents at the watch-night service.

All evening I missed them. All evening I was restless, thinking of a friend hundreds of miles away at a watch-night  service with their family in their city, and another at a party, others still were with family, or chilling out with boyfriends by their side. I longed to be anywhere but here. Fed up, I asked my carer to help me get into bed.

Still restless an hour later, up I got, searching the channels for something to watch. I saw Alan Carr make a right idiot of himself on his own show, smashed and swearing, a humour-full self-depreciating kind of drunk. One of his guests, I am unsure who, quipped that most hosts of most shows would use ‘fake’ booze, but not him! By this point, the show was in the midst of an end-of -year quiz, which required Carr to wear a penguin suit.

I have NEVER seen anything like it. Well worth a watch on ‘4-o-D’. Anyways, next moment, Carr’s on the floor and all panelists rush to his aid. Queue jokes about ‘accidently-on-purpose’ falling so the pretty girls would come to his aid. Wrong gender, obviously! He’s only just up on his feet when over he goes again. Eventually, Jack Whitehall and someone else, perhaps Jonothan Ross, wrestle Carr out of the suit. Even this is worth a watch, honestly! I wished I were in the audience, belly-laughing along. It’s not something I would usually have watched, switching on only because a friend wrote about how funny the show was.

All too soon, I was hunting for something else to watch, and decided to try Jools’ [Holland’s] Annual Hootenanny. Instantly I remembered a good few years ago, making a fuss because I wanted to watch the show rather than BBC Scotland’s coverage of Edinburgh’s New Years Eve Celebrations. That year however, I was reprimanded  rightly by a parent for being so rude, and put in my place, truth be told, it was not my thing. This year however, there was such a party atmosphere I felt as though I could almost have been there, dancing in my chair to the music and listening to the anecdotes from celebrity guests.

When it came to the countdown, I mouthed along with the audience. Just as 2013 arrived, I jumped due to an explosion of sound from my right; FIREWORKS! On the screen. the party continued, as did my jovial mood. One by one, friends descended on my Facebook page to wish ‘Happy New Year’.

If you’d asked me again, where would I rather be, I’d have said, nowhere, oh nowhere, but here.

‘what, only 3 things?’

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This post is based on the weekly writing challenge from 31/12/12

For a procrastinator like myself, this challenge is perfect. No time to waste… and 3 months to get tore in (before the world explodes!) Well, that’s the premise, anyhow. Three resolutions came to mind instantly. Two, I make every year and the third is a New New Years’ challenge. 

Challenge #1: There will be less of me this time next year (I can live in hope…)

The first is similar to that of many women in the developed world. This is the year i will lose weight. My reasons are personal. So’s I can move around much more easily, be in much less pain, and have more energy; the knock-on effect would hopefully ensure a clearer mind, therefore making next two challenges easier. John Bishop is on Jools Annual Hootenanny on the tele and has just announced his New Years resolution is to “get fat and throw pies at thin people” — Now there’s a challenge! 

Challenge #2 : Disciplined Disciple

I guess it’s natural to feel dissatisfied with myself in ways others I had no idea I was lacking in, many people could say that, I guess. The more specific aim of this is to manage to read my bible and pray at the beginning of the day, every single day, If I was honest, I’d say I manage this at some point in the day most days, but this year I plan to set my alarm early every morning and listen to UCB’s prayer and praise and have my quiet time. I feel so much better when I do. For me it’s all about cultivating better habits. which would hopefully in turn help me be more disciplined in other areas including food, exercise, and money, to name three I am concerned about. 

Challenge #3: To write every day

Since I bought a basic Kindle I‘ve begun read more widely. Books on prayer, thought-life, 4 different short daily devotional texts which I interchange or read at least three of, I’ve also started reading about women in the bible, and I am sure there are other topics on my kindle. One of the main things I started to do this year was to write seriously, with encouragement from dear friends, and family. I began to write for The Big Bible Project, I started to Tweet, (which is a form of writing, I guess) and, of course, I also started my blog, with encouragement from others. Very recently, I now also write for the lovely people at Bible Reflections. 

When taken together, all of that is a great start. However, in the coming year, I’d really like to build on this. I’ve begun to read Jeff Goins book You are a writer, so start acting like one. In it he writes of the need to prioritize writing every day, by eliminating distractions and writing sacrificially  dropping other other interests to make more time, where necessary. I was more than a little aware of how difficult this would be in my own situation given my circumstances, but I see how important it is. WordPress stats told me I only wrote 62 times this year, but there are more than 300 more days than that in a year, Of course, I wrote for the other projects I have previously mentioned, and occasionally also used suggestions from ‘The Write Practice’ and published them in the comments section when feeling brave! However, I plan to become much more dedicated this year, health permitting of course. I am aware that I may have to sacrifice more sleep… but so be it. 

Here’s to the New Year! Happy 2013, dear readers, especially to my ‘followers’ who read my blog regularly and encourage me with my writing. I couldn’t do this without you!