Grace.
I am giving myself the gift of grace this week.
I started to feel dispirited for not only failing to write every day the past few weeks, but for not even writing a single day – a single word – this week. I hadn't even opened the program since last #WIPWednesday until it was time to take the screenshot for this morning’s post.
I started to feel guilty about that. I started to feel like a failure – like I'd never see this through.
But, I stopped myself. I offered myself grace.
It has been a difficult couple of weeks over here. This past week even more so than the last.
Out of respect of my loved one’s privacy, I am not going to elaborate (even though I could easily write a few solid essays out of my related experiences).
Suffice it to say that my stress level was off the charts and the sleep deprivation was legit.
I went into what I call my “all business” mode. A coping mechanism I only recently recognized for what it is: emotional avoidance.
Though it is not the healthiest way of dealing with stress – and “all business” did not translate into getting any writing done – it did allow me to be there 100% for my loved one and still host Thanksgiving and even get our Christmas tree up on Sunday; all while having the kids home for Thanksgiving break plus an extra day when a blizzard cancelled school on Monday.
Giving myself grace allowed me to be content with how much I did accomplish in spite of everything. Because, believe me, there were days that simply managing the bare necessities was all I could muster.
And, I may not have written a word, but I did do a few writerly things.
I kept up with my social media goal to keep an active presence with a minimum of one post a day, even though I am behind on scheduling.
I made a few small updates to my blog.
I reorganized my query spreadsheet.
As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, one site had shown interest in syndicating my latest piece; Love What Matters accepted it and ran the feature on Friday.
After receiving a silent rejection for the other syndication query, this week I submitted it to a couple more sites, including one I've not yet worked with.
And I am here today, writing this #WIPWednesday post instead of just throwing up my hands.
