Two weeks ago, jake and I meant to go climbing but at 3pm on Sunday we suddenly realized it wasn’t going to work out because we still had to get big boy’s birthday cake and the sun was going to set soon.
I decided then and there that we wouldn’t do this again. I put a calendar reminder for us to leave the house by 2pm every Sunday so we could go climbing. If we decided to go Saturday that week, awesome. Or if we went Sunday morning that’s awesome too. But if we didn’t go by Sunday at 2pm, we were to leave immediately.
The goal was to make it weekly routine so it wouldn’t be a discussion each week. And this week it worked perfectly. I’ve learned that the most effective way to combat inertia is to make something into a routine. And yet I keep not doing this.
Not sure why I keep having to learn this lesson again and again but here we are.
Here’s to climbing regularly and finding ways to create routine structures for the life that I want to live vs the life inertia is making me default to.
Yes to choosing the way I spend my time. Yes to climbing more.
For people who always tell me YA books are lightweight and not meaningful, I challenge you to read an A. S. King novel and repeat your assertion. A. S. King might be unlike any other author and many of her books are unusual and tough reads.
But this one stood out even amongst all her books.
I honestly don’t even know how to describe this book. Here’s part of the blurb: “Tru Beck is a teenage girl from Pennsylvania who lives in a world that has become trapped in a fold in time and space, where “real” time has stopped but humanity continues to mark artificial time based on a website called N3WCLOCK.com.”
As if that’s not already confusing and “what?!” enough, Tru’s house has a switch in the middle and her dad keeps building boxes around it. And “Tru leaves the box through a Tru-shaped hole to go to school” and if I haven’t lost you by now, I am confident you will love this book.
This book is unlike anything I’ve read. And I’ve read A LOT of books. It’s genre bending and incredibly difficult to summarize. But at its core it’s about what many of King’s books are about: family, communication, suffering and capturing the essence of real teens.
I will not forget this book for a long, long time.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Dutton Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
If you like to journal and have always wanted to keep an art journal, like I have, you will love every single page of this book. – It is full of encouragement. – It gives you practical tips on how to start and how to keep going. – It gives you many, many different examples of nature journals. So much eye candy. – It breaks down most of what you’d see in nature (birds, animals, trees, etc.) and teaches you how to approach drawing them – It gives you practical color advice for each season – It has advice on how to teach the love of nature journaling to kids, classes, and anyone new.
But most of all it helps you fall in love with the practice of disconnecting, being present with nature, paying attention and capturing what you see. It’s not about the perfection, it’s about the feeling of being present and noticing and keeping track of all you noticed. Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
with gratitude to netgalley and Storey Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
Family photo day is always the best day of the month.
I spent a lot of time thinking about making the invisible visible today. As I say yes to doing certain things what am I “invisibly” saying no to? How can I make that more visible for myself? What does it take for me to stop the inertia of doing more of what I’ve always done and really leaning into a life of yes.
How do I connect with how it will feel to have done X vs Y so that I can make sure to do more of what I know will make me happy vs what feels comfortable in this moment?
This is a collection of essays. I rarely read a collection of essays, but I’d read Hough’s piece about being a cableman and really liked it so I wanted to see what all her other stories looked like too. And I was not disappointed.
“Most of the time, I figure it’s better to know the universe doesn’t pay out favors for magical thinking.”
Hough doesn’t hold back her punches. The first story takes place when someone blows up her car because she’s gay and then she gets blamed for it and has to have a trial. It’s incredible how messed up how our justice system can work (and in the military nonetheless) and how your life can turn upside down in one moment.
“I’ve learned, if not to expect the worst, to not be surprised by the worst.”
By all accounts, Hough has lived an unusual life. Brought up in a cult, her roots are all over the place and her family is in pieces everywhere. I didn’t grow up in the United States and had never heard of this cult before so all of it was new to me. She writes about it matter-of-factly and not with self-pity or even anger the way you’d expect someone who has gone through all that might have.
“You may think you have friends who’ll help you bury a body. But when the cops show up and flash their badges, your friends will point to bodies you’ve never seen to keep the cops from looking their way. There are only two sides, and when it comes down to it, even those with nothing to hide will side with those who have the power.”
Hough’s pieces are each more incredible than the last and yet they are full of life, wisdom, reality and life. So much of real life. I appreciated her no nonsense writing and found myself feeling incredulous, angry and frustrated at the number of life’s hurdles she’s been dealt.
“Fact is, there are more than two doors, forgiveness or Kathy Bates. The third door is, you don’t have to forgive at all. You can just go right on living your life with one less asshole to deal with.”
I really hope she keeps writing and telling her story.
with gratitude to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
This was such a surprise read. I had heard about it all over the internet and people kept recommending it but I still didn’t really know enough about it to know what to expect. The entire time I read this book, I kept waiting for something terrible to happen. I has this constant anxiety about the other shoe dropping. There would be a big reveal. One of the people would turn out to be this evil/terrible person.
And it never happened.
There are reveals in the book. But honestly, these are real people with real flaws and messed up lives and nothing more than that. Having read so many weird, twisty books, I think I just couldn’t believe that until the book was over.
And it was such a kind, loving, generous book.
I really loved all the minutes I spent with it and find myself thinking about it and smiling even now.
This book messed with my head. I know that was the point, but wow. It was such a different read. I started it and just couldn’t figure out where it was going. I couldn’t connect with the character and felt lost as to why others thought it was so powerful.
And then it started getting under my skin. The grief, the loneliness, the underhanded neglect and dismissal. The cruelty. I couldn’t stop reading. I couldn’t stop feeling. It was strong enough that I felt like I had to numb myself from how this book was making me feel.
And the ending. that ending.
In the end, it wasn’t about the mystery. Of course not. I will remember the way this book made me feel for quite some time.
If you’re looking for a fast, fun read, this might do the trick for you. It’s lightweight, reasonably predictable, and fun. I find that books like these, in between heavier or grittier books are exactly what I need. Quick, enjoyable, fun.
Weekly Intention: My weekly intention this week is to go back to journaling and art. And to disconnect for the few days I will be taking off.
This month’s intention is:February: Yes to the Unknown: Be open to new things this month. Listen more, watch others. Be willing to take some steps into the unknown and assume the best. Be brave. I like some of these provocations here, I want to listen more and be open to new things. Have to figure out how to do that better.
One way I will leap this week: A small getaway this week might be my best leap.
One boundary I will set this week: I am going to try hard not to work while on vacation.
One area where I will go deeper this week: Maybe more journaling again if I am lucky.
What do I need to sit with this week? i still didn’t do this: the stories I am telling myself. I want to write them down.
I am looking forward to: vacation, time off.
Focus onCore Desired Feelings (lighter, kinder, enough, magic, wild): this week looking for a little magic
This week’s challenges: getting a lot of work done in just two days will be tough.
Top Goals:
Work: make it through nbu review is my main goal this week.
Personal: get back to drawing and journaling
Family: take walks with J. do one thing with N and do one thing with D.
This week, I want to remember: we make our own magic.
No matter how much I want to curl up in bed (which is forever!) climbing outside is always 1000 times better than the couch. Exercise, fresh air, togetherness.
