Picking myself up...and Starting again.

My crowning jewels are my kids, each a treasure all their own. I've always told them that they should follow their dreams, to reach for the stars and be what ever it is they really want to be. But if I'm going to be an example of that, then I need to stop making excuses and reach for my own dreams too.

I've been putting the needs of reality and my family first. Bowing to the world's logic and not following my own as often as I used to.  I've forgotten how to listen to the beat of my own music - my own drummer calling to me. It's time for me to get back to the basics of being me.

Believing in one's ability to create opportunity, to reach for that which seems impossible, that is what makes life the grand journey that it is. Not trying to stumble through a dead end job that barely makes a dent in the stack of bills that are slowly strangling what little joy there is in what's called life today...

• How many people are just barely surviving? (Way too many! The state of poverty is bigger than Texas and California together now!)
• How many are wondering if things will ever change?
  (Stop wondering and start changing things yourself. You don't have to go big.  One step at a time.)
• Will things get better?
  (I don't know. But I'm sure as heck going to try and make things better where and when I can!)
• What will happen if I don't get work?
  (Take control of what you can! Have a yard sale, salvage metal, post on Craigslist or anyplace you think you might be able to sell stuff.  Start locally first if you have to. Also try to  find ways to get what you need without money! Barter services for services. When it comes down to things that you need money for - focus on gathering up a few dollars here and there. Together it will all add up. No matter what, make sure that the situation doesn't paralyze you. If nothing else, we all have a mind, and we can use it to think. Now we can either get ourselves into trouble or out of it. But we do have to use our heads and not panic. Fear is a mind killer. Don't let it immobilize you.)

For me, this blog is all about standing up, dusting off and starting up again. It's my get back in the saddle site.

We've all been knocked down, stumbled or even fallen on our life's journey.  Sometimes, we've had to deal with those that would prefer we stay down. But getting back up is the only way to get started again. To start taking back our life and beginning to control what we can. We have to finding ways to get around those trying to control us. They have no right, it's our life.

It's about taking back your dreams, taking back that energy and joy that gets lost in the daily struggle. It's about finding your own personal star and letting it guide you. It's something we deserve to give to ourselves. It may not be easy, in some ways it might be the hardest thing we've ever done. But the point is to start now.

Even if it's just a stolen hour or two. It's a step forward, a start point to plan, to think, to begin on the work that needs to be done to changing things. 

Start off by changing those things that are holding you back, the negativity that can drain you and dragging you down. Get rid of all that noise that wants to keep you under control and keep you from being happy.

Dreams can come true...but they need you,  some attention, time and maybe a little magick to get them started...

Like Alfred said in the Dark Knight movie: "Why do we fall down Sir? So we can learn how to get back up again."

Good luck learning how to get back up - again, and again...until you make it.  Carpe Diem!

An Amazing Discovery!

It's been as if I've been suffering from a dark illness that has slowly devoured a part of my spirit. The banishment of my muse. I'd become deaf to my characters and their stories. Why did I do this to myself and allow a void to grow within that filled with darkness and sorrow?

My worker at Vocational Rehabilitation told me that they did not believe that writing was a profitable career for me to choose. That it was a hobby at best and that I should consider more realistic business models. Foolishly I listened to them, regretfully I set aside my dreams to create a respectable business that I could do from home.

But I have made a choice to follow my dreams once more and to release the stories that fill my mind. My muse has returned and she's rejoicing. I have returned to my first passion and love, writing. Never will I be told that it is a wasteful hobby, worthless scribblings of no value...

If I wrote for the goal of profit alone, I would not be a true writer. It is a stirring deep within, an urge to create something out of nothing. To paint fantastic worlds and vistas with words. To inspire, to weave a spell so complete as to make a character real...so real that you feel with them. To cry, laugh and share with them the adventure of their life...

There is something more satisfying in the process and completion, worth far more than just money. If making money was the only reward, there would be far less writers in the world.

Eagerly I await the day that I can share my stories with others and introduce them to the characters I've come to know so very well. It is the pleasure of this and more that I continue to strive forward, typing away with joy in my heart once more.

Everyone holds a story or more within them, if the desire is there choose to write it down. If only to preserve the wonderful stories of your own life adventure for your children or grandchildren and future generations to come. A living history of what you experienced, learned and how things changed. What a wonderful gift to pass on over the years, expanding upon the stories as each generation adds their own tales. It's such a shame that so many stories are lost and left to be forgotten when we pass on. Special family recipes, secrets and memories treasured forever in a bound book.

The way I see it anyone can write...be it poetry, short stories or long novels. Anyone can write and everyone should think of writing. If only to preserve the past today, for tomorrow.