Let’s talk a little about resistance. Or a lot.

This post is the result of resistance. And fear. And more resistance. I started out the year strong, vowing to create two blog posts a month, create an email newsletter to send twice a month, and generally get myself in gear for the launch of Chicken Scratch: Lessons on Living Creatively from a Flock of Hens on May 23. 

I’ve posted once on my blog. ONCE. Even I can’t believe it, and I am well aware of my 7 status on the Enneagram. I move easily from writing project to assignment to review. Easy peasy. But staying with one thing? Not so much. Even the merest bit if resistance stops me in my tracks. Thus one blog post so far in 2023, and now the second in the middle of March.

OK, so there’s been a lot going on. Elder care has sucked the very soul out of my body. I’m still mom to four glorious children and one future daughter-in-law, wife to Ray, a dog-cat-chicken mom, an in-law, a sibling, a friend. There are places to go, people to see, one more doctor appointment for the elders. 

I let it scare me. Guess what? I’m still scared, but I’m doing it anyway. I’m launching a book in two months, writing a blog and creating a newsletter, writing a piece on the river running through our town for a local magazine, writing a guest blog post. Doing the stuff and doing it scared. 

Jen Sincero wrote You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life, which I checked out of the library three times before discovering my daughter actually owns a copy. I bought myself the 2023 You are a Badass Page-A-Day calendar for Christmas (oh stop, just buy yourself what you want and quit whining about getting crummy gifts). 

The quote for March 18/19 said this: “Your guilt, shame, and shoulds cannot run the show.” 

I was living there. Guilt for not blogging and newslettering. Shame at my own inertia. And living with, “I should do this” and “I should do that.” 

Enough already. I’m strong enough and so are you. Let’s hold each other accountable to just write the post, query the editor, edit the pages, write the book, do the marketing and publicity, sit in the chair and get busy. Resistance and fear may be along for the ride but not driving the vehicle any longer. We are driving now and are ready to take off once again on this crazy journey of writing and life.