Drops of Inspira

  Hello! First off, you're going to notice something a little different. The graphic at the top is something I made with Canva that is supposed to be like the newspaper in my WIP (Work-in- Progress) Drops of Inspira.  In my WIP, The Underground  is a newspaper for members of The Underground, a group of members of the resistance against the governor of Inspira who have had to go into hiding or risk imprisonment... or worse. So, I thought I would name my little "life updates" in my blog after that with the goal of sometime in the not-too-distant future starting a newsletter with the same name. So, without further ado, let's get to the updates. Aha! You haven't seen this graphic in a while, have you?  So... Life.  This past year has been an absolute whirlwind.  I've gone from a year at a toxic job to the job I left two years ago. It's been a change for the better in many respects. My memory is strengthening (I lost months of memory from the stress at my last ...

     Hello! Last night I was talking about where we want to be and the frustration that we feel because we haven't achieved that status yet. And I think we all go through those moments. Life always looks greener on the other side of the fence. Because if and when we do achieve those things that we want, we'll find something else to achieve.  It seems we need patience for progress.  What is progress really? It's moving forward a step at a time in the direction that makes a difference. But did you catch the word step ?  Even if we run, the motion is made up of small steps.  Our own lives aren't made up of giant leaps and bounds. It's made of small steps. Those steps are life. The moments in between that we don't think much of. The moments that we don't see because we are too busy being impatient.  What if we just slowed down and valued the small moments? We're so busy looking forward that we don't take time to look behind and see how far we've come...

  Hello! I was thinking about what to talk about for this month and the phrase, "fighting for joy" kept cropping up. It's a phrase a pastor of mine used to use. He used to talk about how joy doesn't just float in. Not most of the time. Most of the time, we have to fight for it. So, that's what this month's theme is going to be. Fighting for Joy. Because honestly, I need to be reminded as much as anyone that joy is worth fighting for. If we don't make an effort to seek joy, then we are living an apathetic life. We're just content to float throughout our days, hoping that somehow, someway joy will drift in and lift our hearts out of our circumstances. Since joy must be fought for, chances are, we're going to get scratched up. We're going to be battle weary, and there will be times that we will feel like it's just too much work. But what is the alternative?  Lately, I've felt myself start to drift. I'm tired. Everything in life seems t...

      Carpe Momentum... "Seize the Moment".  I have been thinking about this a lot. It's what the theme of this month is about, in essence, and it's what I did this weekend. I work a 9 to 5 job that is mostly mental, which makes it hard to write as frequently as I'd like. It also means that I get to the weekend completely drained. I push and pull all week, and I wash up on the shores of the weekend, feeling like I just came off a shipwreck.  I know many of you deal with the same thing. A full-time job isn't for the faint of heart, but it's what many of us do to survive.  This weekend, I decided to seize every moment. This meant staying up until eleven on both Friday and Saturday, but I don't regret it.  Here are some things I did: Friday: Stayed up late talking to a friend. Chatted with a sibling via text. Washed all my bedding. (This was an enormous task. Apparently, I really like blankets.) Read some of Saber's Pride by C.M. Banschbach. (This is ...