When I was serving my last church community I would go out to breakfast every Thursday to write my sermon. Moving here there weren’t any places that seemed the right place to take over a table and spend hours working. I also stopped giving traditional sermons, so it wasn’t urgent to find a good place to focus on writing. Every once in a while when I need to really think and write I head to Shari’s, a 24 hour comfort food extravaganza.
Lately Jeff and I have been tracking all of our spending on an app on our phone. We set a monthly budget and then log every expenditure. It’s been so helpful to be intentional about our spending. I actually went to Target the other day for a specific item, and when I couldn’t find it I left with empty hands. Instead of recreationally shopping and buying things I might use I’m thinking about what I actually need.
I’m supposed to be writing a TEDx talk that I’m giving on Friday. I have been struggling to focus on it, there’s just too much to distract me when I work from home, like the laundry I need to move to the dryer or the bag of games under my desk I really should put away. I thought about going to Shari’s last night to spend a long chunk of time writing while eating pie, but I realized it was probably time to develop a better habit not just for my waistline, but also for our budget and my own self-discipline around writing. So here I am, sitting outside on our lovely patio, wrapped in a blanket and watching the leaves fall from the tress. So far so good, although I haven’t even gotten to the TEDx talk yet!
Writing at a restaurant worked for me. It was a way to reward myself and give me space to focus without interruptions or wandering. Life changed and my needs changed so my habit had to change too. It hasn’t been easy. I know that my old habit worked for a long time, so part of me thinks if I just kept doing that I would be able to write well and get my work finished. Another part of me knows that it is time to try new things, to create healthier ways of being and live in to my new reality. I am so grateful for having developed a process that used to work and that gave my life a positive rhythm and allowed me to be successful. I am so grateful for the opportunity to grow and change, to experiment and try to find new ways to focus and write. The same is true in so many aspects of my life, grateful for what was, grateful for what is becoming. Maybe that will end up in my TEDx piece!
-Eilidh
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