Links:

Link to Day 1, Link to Last Entry

For those who followed my previous crazy journey’s, here’s the post the Friday before I started this one, which puts it in the context of this blog as a whole: Christian Influence Peddling.

Welcome Back

Welcome to Saturday morning. It’s getting longer and longer between posts. AM Pgs, my stream of thought morning journal writing, has been one of my longtime habits for a couple years. It really works to quickly clear my mind of noise and capture all the things I feel like I should be thinking about that day. At the end of each session I quickly underline the actionable items and write a little number in a circle next to them to put them in the order that reflects their priority to me. It’s simple, effective, and relaxing. I meant to start using this blog as a sort of AM Pgs that also added in an accountability piece and kept track of my progress toward my goals.

I’m noticing that it hasn’t worked–which is totally fine. I create a lot of positive habits for myself but sometimes I need to audition some different ways of accomplishing the same effects. I don’t want to live in fear, or basically get to some place where the routine becomes the point. The routines are there to help me not enslave me if that makes sense. So I try things out once in a while. I challenge my sacred cows, even if those habits were hard to find and create.

So here’s what I learned trying to change my AM Pages routine. I’ve done it old school, paper and pen, mostly because it was how the person did it who’s routine (Morning Pages / Julia Cameron) I based my routine on. It also made the habit highly portable as sometimes I go off grid and don’t take a laptop with me. Julia stresses doing it with pen/paper because typing is less effective for her–I had my doubts. Truth is I’ve been typing a long time and I discover a lot when I’m processing through typing into a laptop too so I didn’t think that was a crucial a part of it all–I was wrong. The ability to create my own shorthand, sometimes drawing a picture or diagram to reflect a concept, not to mention feeling the repeated theme of things I write, it’s a very tactile thing.

Another aspect of morning pages (& it turns out my AM Pgs too) is that it’s for my eyes only. The stream of conscious nature, is something that gets quickly stuck when you know someone else might read it. I’ve accomplished a lot more writing this last year, by doing the informal, direct to internet, sort of writing that doesn’t get double checked by several people. I successfully adapted a take-massive-action, done-beats-perfect, attitude and it works. So I figured I could recapture a little time by combining my AM Pgs with my need to blog out my progress/accountability on this season of transition. I was wrong.

My AM Pgs can take as little as five minutes some days and keeps my brain feeling de-fragged and my attitude de-stressed. I have enjoyed blogging more. However, this is a rough season to start so many new habits at once and my failure to blog as much as I wanted blowing up isn’t that shocking. When it sank it took my morning journal habit with it and that’s put me in a world of hurt.

So conclusion #1 for this season was that I likely will never blog more than once a week, which I’m okay with. Conclusion #2 for this season is that I can’t blog out my AM Pgs. I will return to my daily routine as it worked prior to this.

Goals Update:

You’ll note that my goals for this season as listed below, include going to bed at 9:30 PM and getting up at 5 AM. That was something I didn’t anticipate struggling with. I’ve maintained that schedule before, although I’d faltered on it during the holidays. However, its taken two weeks for my body to adjust to the new level of physical exertion. I’m beat. I’ve done well at going to bed on time but I sleep in a to 6 most mornings. I did this partly so I could stay in a life rhythm but that’s been hit and miss.

The real goal behind the consistent schedule is to draw a circle around my life outside the house remodel and I haven’t totally done that either. I catch myself staying at the house longer and longer, not getting the time with my daughter I want. Some days hardly seeing my wife at all and when we do it’s only in the context of working on the house project.

Thursday night we went over and worked until 11 PM. We got up Friday and worked their all day. I’m not really getting my day job (writing done either). So I called a halt things and we booked a place at the cost for a couple days this week. We’re getting away entirely. We don’t have time for it, but it needs to happen. Our lives are more than the house remodel.

That’s my recap right now. I’ve got some amazing progress to show on the house, but I’m going to cover it in the next post this week. Right now this is enough.

God bless…

Quick Recap of this Blog Series

I’m a writer (fiction/non-fiction/copy) who’s turning 50 in June. When I have a season of big changes to adapt to and big projects to take on, I like to combine it all into a plan I call a journey. I’m calling this journey Spring 2021: Cleric Journey – (It includes such things as turning 50, remodeling a house, expanding my writing business to include entrepreneur & life purpose coaching). I typically journal me progress, big wins/big flops, but this time I’m blogging it so I can…

• Inspire or help some folks facing similar life situations.
• Share tips I’ve learned or that people suggest to me that I decided to try out.
• Stay committed to progress by stating to all my readers what I’m doing and if it’s working or not.
• Eventually turn it into a written resource for the Creative Christian Entrepreneurs I coach.

Note: The thinking behind journeys is this. When facing busy seasons in life, we need to impose some routine on life, and be flexible other places. We need to decide what our life is about, that authentic to us, and not lose site of that while taking on those big projects of crazy seasons that happen to all of us in life.

Goal Recap

My goals/priorities this season–addressed in one project (One Big Thing), include
– Losing weight & getting younger, (soon auditioning new diet/exercise plans).
– Bed by 9:30 PM & getting up at 5 AM every weekday and spending time with God (which includes writing this blog).
– Launching the coaching arm of my writing/coaching business, and faithfully stewarding opportunities with my church.
– Remodeling a new home so that we can start living multi-generational with my mom.