So, 2014 started off pretty restless for me. Literally, I wasn’t sleeping much with the newborn, but there was also this energy inside me that just did not want me to be still. Maybe I was worried that if I did ‘nothing but baby’ I’d come undone? Hours after delivering Alyzeh, I received an invitation to contribute a couple of blogs to Conscious Divas. Of course, I said “Sure!” The deadline was about two months away. I gave myself a couple of weeks to adjust physically to my post-partum self and once we settled into January routine, I started writing again.
And I kept writing, building momentum on this blog and submitting to another magazine. I offered to throw a Twitter party for a friend’s new salon. Shortly after, the opportunity to host a Twitter party for a charity opened up and I agreed willingly. (By the way, Twitter parties sound like fun and games – and they are – but they’re A TONNE of work to put on!)
Suddenly, the book I had been ‘sitting on’ for like a year and a half was begging to be published and launched. So, I proudly presented to the world, What If…?
And then I got up on stage and did THIS.
I couldn’t believe how much I could do professionally without any sleep! I couldn’t stop moving, though. And one night, for about two hours, I actually convinced my husband that we should even move homes! Well, I can’t say I convinced him, but I got him so pumped about a couple of acreage lots in the next neighbourhood that he left the house at 11 pm and drove by them. Of course, he couldn’t see anything in the dark. When he came home, I said “I just miss my trees. I need more trees. Can we move into a treehouse?!” (We used to have a protected green space behind our home with tall, towering trees. The day they were excavated was one of the worst days of my life. More on that in another post.)

photo credit: freedigitalphotos.net/gualberto107
The next day, I drove by the two lots I had sent my husband out to see. They were nothing like what I thought I was seeking. I parked my car at the side of the road, turned it off and stared into space. For the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to be still. I could finally ask myself what it was I wanted. It wasn’t a new house. I love my home, every bit of it. But I needed more breaks and a lot more Nature.
I needed to feel grounded.
I basically didn’t write in July, and just enjoyed doing nothing but hang out with my family. August came ’round and the will to create or ‘do’ anything was pretty minimal, until another email came my way from Conscious Divas. A contributor slot had opened up – could I have something to them about ‘being grounded’ within a few weeks? Oh yes. I could do that.
And this is what I wrote. Please hop over to it and read something that literally surprised me as I wrote it. It was like I was getting some much-needed advice from ‘Someone Else’. I know it sounds cheesy when writers say that, but honestly, it’s the truth.
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