I’m writing a memoir during the 31 days of May- since May is (Motherhood) Memoir Month–I deemed it that–now I have to do it.
On Day 1 I decide my memoir will have 31 chapters, a chapter a day. The writing will be lean, maybe just the skeleton of the story. It sounds do-able, yet ambitious. Both impossible and possible. Impossible goals scare me. I hear my mind saying, No, no, no, don’t try that- you’ll fail, And then you’ll feel like a failure. Stay in the cave (as Brooke Castillo, The Life Coach School says; I recently spent a year being coached…). This is the primitive part of my brain talking. But I want to live from my pre-fontal cortex, lean into a higher calling.
So here is my new thinking on this: If I know I will most likely fail, why not do it anyway? Trying and failing means I’m getting somewhere. Not trying because I think I’ll fail means I’m failing ahead of time. Guaranteed failure vs. possible failure.
If I try, I’ll get closer to my goal. And since I already dealt with the idea that I’m most likely going to fail–and it’s going to be okay because I’m not going to make it mean I’m a failure–then I’ll learn in the process. And if I keep trying, eventually I’ll figure it out. I might even succeed. Eventually I will. My mind will help me. I give it a question to work on: What would it take to write a memoir in a month?
For starters, it will take sitting down and writing–staying seated (or in my case, staying on the ball- I sit on one of those big balance balls and I bounce when I get brain fatigue, or I swivel to keep my hips loose).
I’ll admit I let myself get up too often. I’ve worked on being active and fought weight gain most of my life, so sitting down to write for long periods feels in opposition to my physical goals. But I try for balance–take walk or Yoga break, go play pickle ball. Get back to work.
So I’ll be here writing. How about you? You can make your goal whatever speaks to you- how about a 6 word memoir everyday? Or 30 minutes writing on your project? Or a certain number of words? You decide. Let me know and we’ll hold each other accountable. We’re in this together. now let’s get writing.
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