Writers Gotta Write. Movers Gotta Move. Let’s GO.
Aloha from Maui! It’s Golden Globes night and the last Sunday of February, and I am really really ready for MARCH. February is never my favorite month (the anniversary of my mom’s death is on 2–2). It always feels like a long month despite being only 27 or 28 days. This year, it’s feeling longer than EVER. I think it’s because Pandemic fatigue is a seriously real thing, for so many of us who honestly never saw our lives going on FULL STOP for an entire year. It started about this time last year, when rumblings about borders closing due to the virus spreading were no longer just rumblings but truth.
It’s the truth that just about a year ago, I went from being one of the busiest travel advisors on the planet to cancelling out all future business (and income) for 2020. I cried. I laughed. I breathed .
Then, I got bored staying at home on Maui with my three dogs to the point that I started a healthy cookie business. And I channeled my confusion into the cookie bowl, collaborated on a branding mission with a talented friend, and paid little attention to the lack of “travel” requests coming in for basically all of 2020.
Lately, my phone is ringing again. My inbox has daily surprises with notes from amazing people I’ve not heard from, even a few from past clients I’ve not heard from in over a decade. This Pandemic was NOT a terrible thing for those of us who truly needed a BIG FAT BREAK from life as we knew it. I was on auto-pilot my last two years on the mainland, where I’d relocated from Maui after my first attempt at a break from all the busy in 2016. I was dealing with serious PTSD back then, but I still had a business to run and clients counting on me to make their travels run smoothly. I did my best. But, even then I knew I was spreading myself so very thin. I was nearly at my breaking point, yet I couldn’t take a true break.
This Pandemic, while devastating in its nature to so many of us for so many reasons, has also been one of the best gifts most of us have ever received. TIME is the currency we all complained we never had enough of. We never had enough time to spend with our family. We longed for less travel, less jet lag, less obligations, and for me, MORE peace, MORE quiet time at home, MORE time to focus on my silent passions and my spiritual connections and my God-given gift: WRITING.
I wrote my first book, WHY NOT ME?!? in between global trips, while super-busy with clients and often on the fly with deadlines looming. I wrote it from my heart and soul, and it was published two years ago ahead of schedule. I had little time to self-promote or think about how to market it, but I knew many who were supposed to read the messages in there would find it. It’s still making its rounds, thanks to Amazon’s print-on-demand feature, which means good books never really die. The call to write the sequel is now upon me, and that’s what brought me here to my computer tonight.
I have been physically LAZY like many of us this Pandemic in the name of really just needing to decompress and wind my way through this confusion without instructions or added stress. That’s what I was guided to do, honestly, for much of the past year. Just GO with it, I’ve heard every time I’ve looked up to ask God and my angels for answers. Just GO with it, they tell me. Don’t Worry about the details, just know that you are safe, all is well. Rest. Recharge. Stay quiet. Stay home. Just chill.
This morning, something changed. I sat outside under the full moon last night asking for guidance towards what’s meant to be next. I asked for the strength to stay open to whatever is meant for me, and for the intuitiveness to know what to do. This morning, under a big bright rainbow, I was given the green light to get with the program and follow my guidance to set myself a few rules. Fun rules, in that they are set BY me FOR me and FOR the good of my happiest highest self.
The energy is shifting. The Pandemic is going to end this year. We are moving in the right direction. I came on here tonight as a way to set some accountability for myself, because I need it. I am my own best boss, and my own worst disciplinarian. Fortunately, we do get to make and break our own rules. Doesn’t that sound fun?!
For the entire month of March, in the name of shifting my energy and leveling up, I am committing to the following:
- Daily blog posts. Not just social media posts, ,which are fun, but actually writing for 30–60 minutes here on my Medium blog about whatever I am being guided to auto-write and share. Yes, it’s almost like dictation. I put my fingers to the laptop and whatever is meant to be written is what gets written. No overthinking. No editing. Just 31 days of pure writing by me, for me, and for you. I have no idea what I’ll be writing about, but it will include messages for me and for you that I am guided to share as I get back in the flow of writing as prep for Book #2 which will be written this year.
- Daily dance parties. Ha! Not really, in that no one else is invited. But, I have been using the Pandemic as time to get quiet and go inward, and meditate often which has been enlightening and relaxing. I love meditating, and do it as often as I can. However, for creative energy to flow and my next book + future projects to develop, it is essential I move my energy around. Daily. To amazing music. Total freeflow 30 minutes of movement with no one watching except my dogs. I choose the music, I choose the time of day, it’s SO much better than going to a gym or a class where I was always rushing to make it on time and then stressing when there about how I looked in my lululemons. Dancing at home in a sundress and bare feet with my pups as my only audience is great for the endorphins, my mental health AND my creativity. Highly recommend trying it.
3.Getting on a 9–5 schedule. Not a daytime one, but a get in bed by 9pm and wake up around 5am to meditate or relax for an hour before the pups start rushing me to take them out for their 6am walk. I’ve been staying up too late and sleeping until they wake me lately, which gets my day off to a rushed and not a very Zen start. I am also going to try really hard NOT to snack at night, but it’s still a Pandemic and some nights just do call for snacks.
That’s it for now. My three BIG commitments feel like enough for this Pandemic anniversary month. The shock and trauma of it all has worn off enough that I feel like it’s time to get back to work, and once again enjoy changing lives through travel, spiritual coaching/reiki AND doing what I am here to do: writing AND moving! Let’s go.
Want to join me for the 31 Days of March challenge? Choose a few things YOU can realistically commit to and email me (stacy@stacymaui.com) to let me know what you’re up to. I chose writing and dancing because 1) I LOVE both of these activities 2) they are totally free of charge to me (!) and they can both be done in the zen peacefulness of my own home on my own time schedule 3) they are both creative outlets that spark JOY for me.
Happy March y’all. Make it a great month to remember. We got this. Aloha!
