The bumps along the way….

I love a good plan. I love a thorough checklist. Crossing things off in my bullet journal every day literally makes me smile.

But life.

Life has a funny way of pulling at us, doesn’t it?

I’ve set out to write for an hour every day. I made the plan. I set the 15 week schedule. And then, life.

I get the privilege of taking care of not only our children (who aren’t so little anymore), but my parents, too. More specifically, my mom who has dementia. We moved them in with us last August, and it’s been a few months of trying to figure out what the rhythm of living for us all looks like.

I’ve included that rhythm into my planning for this book and you know what? Doesn’t matter. Because, life.

Life still happens. Unexpected ambulance rides and emergency room visits happen. Emotional days. Exhaustion.

There’s lots of reasons I can use to not write. Lot’s of excuses I can come up with and you know what—they would all be understandable and legitimate for this particular season of life.

There are a lot of things I am ok with adjusting, sacrificing, or giving up all together. I can sleep at night if I take on less client work. I can sleep at night if I didn’t get that last email sent. I can sleep at night if I didn’t build that course out.

You know what keeps me up? If I wasn’t there enough for my family, and if I didn’t write.

Writing is how I express myself whether it’s in a fictional world I’m building out, or in my prayer journal as I beg God for more strength to get through a rough time.

When I have to stare the bumps of life in the face while the tasks for a writing goal loom overhead you know what I do?

I write.

I get the words out. Sometimes I speak them into the voice notes app on my phone. Sometimes I write myself random stings of words to help me capture the key details of a scene so I can dive back in and write it thoroughly later. Sometimes I text my husband things like, “tuna tartare, red lipstick, alligators, oak treed and Mack.” But….

I write.

There will always be bumps. Life will always keep rolling, tossing in curve balls, shaking up rhythms. But if I don’t protect the few and very important things that I know I need to, I will wake up a very unhappy mess of a person in the future. And that wouldn’t serve my family, or honor God, at all.

There will be bumps. Expect them.

The trick is-will you ride those bumps and still get the objectives completed, or will you use those bumps as excuses?

There are days when I don’t hit my word count in the morning like I prefer to. There are some mornings that can’t start with my ideal flow, like I need them to. Because, life. When that hits, I double down on finding pockets of time to still achieve the task. I adjust like I would on the dance floor when the DJ changes the track from one genre of music to another. Adjust the rhythm, adjust to the beat and just keep moving.